


Permission To Shoot: GRANTED

by WhyAreAllUsernamesTaken



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Blood, Character Death, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Manipulation, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Physical Abuse, Plot Twists, Torture, abilities
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2020-11-23 13:23:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20892812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhyAreAllUsernamesTaken/pseuds/WhyAreAllUsernamesTaken
Summary: #OS-3.That's was he was called.Not Felix.Not even Lee.He was done with it. He was fed up with being tossed around like some kind of ragdoll without a will for five god damn years and he was going to get out even if it cost him his life.But Felix was just Felix and could do nothing against the superpower that was the government.Until he met the other boys.





	1. Proceed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [InoruMarufuji](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InoruMarufuji/gifts).

> Happy two-week anniversary, L. ^^ <3

Dark.

Felix couldn’t see anything.

They always did this on purpose because they knew it would freak him out. 

However, he had reached a point where he could live with that damn mask over his eyes.

And even though it was normal, it still felt as uncomfortable as ever. Maybe even more now that he had actually seen the light today.

Well, not _exactly_ that, but something that had come close to it.

People.

He had seen actual people here today. People who were just like him.

For the first time in years, Felix had been allowed to interact with other people and even though he had been awkward as hell, it had been the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to him.

And thinking back on his day, the darkness of his three-by-three bedroom wasn’t consuming his every fibre.

‘’Time for your meet-up OS-3,’’

Felix groaned at the loud knock on the door but didn’t say anything about it. He wasn’t dumb so he knew that it wasn’t wise to go against the guards or the researchers.

He had done so when he had first arrived here – more like _locked up_ here – and it hadn’t ended well. He had soon learned to just go with whatever they wanted him to do. After that, every day had gone the same for the next five years.

He would get woken up at five, get dressed in the same white outfit as the day before, the door would open revealing the same guard and he would go down the same white hall only to end up in another white room.

There they expected him to do these series of tests – what they were for, Felix still didn’t know but that wasn’t the point. The point was that they forced him to use his power, to show to them what he was capable of. The funny thing was that they never stayed in the room with him. No, they were too scared for that. Instead, there were cameras all over so they could stay tucked away safely.

So that’s how Felix found himself back in the room, waiting for the speaker in the corner to come to life.

He didn’t understand why he had to do this every day. They knew what he was and wasn’t capable of but they never stopped. 

_‘’Proceed,’’_ A voice came from one of the loudspeakers in the wall.

Felix gritted his teeth and counted to ten in an attempt to keep his temper in check. For some reason, it had gotten harder and harder to do so and he was constantly followed by this pressure in his head and he was ready to snap any day now.

The white room was now completely dark and it was impossible for Felix to see anything.

There was a countdown and he knew what that meant so he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, focussing on bringing that spark to the surface.

At zero, he opened his eyes again.

Instead of more darkness, the room was now a muddled green and every object in the room was perfectly distinguishable from the other.

That’s what he could do.

Night-vision.

Felix thought it was quite useless so he really didn’t understand why he was here. He was sure that there would be others like him out there, but with way more interesting abilities like telekinesis or mind-reading or whatever. Those were the people that would _really_ be helpful to the government.

_‘’Test one,’’_ the voice said.

It was always the same voice and it grinded his gears after hearing it day after day, saying the exact same things in the exact same way like it was a pre-recorded message. He knew what test one was so he didn’t even wait for the instructions and just listed off everything that was in the room.

Of course they knew that test one was always successful but they still made him do it. For a bunch of – supposedly - smart people, they were incredibly dumb.

The rest of the tests had the same result until he came to the last one.

_‘’Test seven, final,’’_

Felix hated hearing those words. They always ended up bringing pain and fear and he sometimes wondered how it was still possible that he could do this every day without his body giving up.

The door behind him opened and he could feel the blood in his veins turn into slush, making him painfully aware that his mind and body were telling him that he was about to enter dangerous waters and that he should get away.

But he couldn’t and that was the most frustrating thing.

Then there was that stupid mask again, followed by a click of the straps locking and then darkness. He could hear the sound of stuff moving around in the room and soon after, the door closed again and he flinched.

He hated not being able to see. It was probably a thing that most people hated but with the nature of his abilities, it was so much worse. Felix was used to being able to see at all times, even in the dark.

But not this kind of dark.

And that was the whole problem with test number seven.

They – the people on the other side of the camera - suspected he could see _without_ even relying on his eyes and he didn’t know where they had gotten that idea from. 

He couldn’t do that.

He had tried at least a thousand times already but they just couldn’t let the idea go, no matter how many times he had failed test number seven.

_‘’Proceed,’’_

However, there was nothing for Felix to do. He could not see so he was not able to tell them what it was that had changed in the room.

_‘’OS-3, proceed,’’_

The voice was now more urgent and that was enough for Felix to start trembling. He knew what was going to come next and there was really nothing he could do to stop it. 

_‘’Final minute,’’_

Felix wanted to cry right then and there. 

Or just snap someone’s neck. 

Preferably both at the same time.

Either way, he had a minute of peace left before they’d come in again and try more damaging means to get him to see without _seeing_. So he just stood there – half frozen, half panicked – and waited for that minute to end. That was always the longest minute of his life and every time his life flashed in front of his eyes.

Or whatever he could call his life.

The only thing he could vividly remember was how he had been whisked off the street one night after he had been on his way home from eating dinner at a friend’s place. At that time he was fourteen and his parents had deemed it safe enough for him to make the short walk home alone.

Which it really was. He had done so plenty of times before so he hadn’t even felt scared or something. But that had changed when he had turned into their street and suddenly had been grabbed from behind and tossed into the back of a van before any sound could even leave his lips.

They had gagged him and injected something into his arm and right before his vision started to fade to black, his mother’s voice popped up in his head, repeating the words he had been told ever since he was about five years old.

_‘’Never let anyone know what you can do Lixie. They can’t know!,’’_

And even though it had been years ago, standing in that room completely robbed of his most precious sense, he could feel the tears well up in his eyes.

_‘’Test failed,’’_ The voice said, startling Felix once again.

Almost immediately, the door behind him opened and Felix could feel his body locking up already. Sweat started to gather on his forehead as footsteps approached him.

Technically, he could run. But he would just end up in a medically induced coma, only to wake up three days later and getting deprived of water and food for the following four days.

That was if he was lucky.

If he wasn’t… well, he would have to pray that they would keep the hydrochloric acid away from him. He already had way too many scars on his hands and the last thing he wanted was to add any more.

Heavy hands landed on his shoulder and before he could even react, something sharp got pushed into the back of his neck. He knew the feeling and deep down he was happy that he got starvation over chemical burns and other horrible things.

He forced his breath to slow down and keep steady as his head grew heavy and his knees gave out from under him, sending him down until he got caught by two intimidatingly muscular arms. And just like that, he was out.

When Felix opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was that he wasn’t in his own room. The walls were too white – he wondered how that was even possible – and the lights were too bright, making his eyes hurt tremendously. He always preferred dim lighting more because his eyes were built to catch the light better than normal people’s eyes and therefor, how brighter the light, how harder the impact in his brain was.

It took him a while to get over the initial blindness and with the sound of someone humming, he snapped his head to his left.

There was a boy sitting on the floor and against the wall, his mouth covered by something that seemed similar to what Felix’s eyes would get covered with. His cheeks puffed out as a result of the fabric and it looked uncomfortable to Felix. His hair was a perfect light-blonde which made the contrast with his slightly tan skin even bigger. So did the all-white clothes. The boy had his eyes closed and his head leaned on someone’s shoulder.

Felix’s eyes then landed on another boy sitting next to the blonde. He had his arm swung around the boy and was playing with a tuff of hair behind the blonde boy’s ear. The first thing that popped up in Felix’s head as he observed the black-haired boy was _cold_ despite his obvious affection for the boy next to him. There was just something about his sharp gaze that landed on Felix that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

Before Felix could say anything, the black haired boy tightened his grip on the boy next to him, almost pulling him into his lap and growling at Felix. The latter flinched ever so slightly and he wondered what he had done to make the boy react to him like that.

‘’Don’t mind him. He’s just scared you’ll hurt Jisung,’’ a voice from his right remarked.

Felix jumped to his feet and turned around and saw a boy with thinly wired glasses smiling at him from where he was sitting on the floor.

‘’I’m Hyunjin,’’ The boy continued as he got up himself and held out his hand for Felix to shake.

To say Felix was confused was an understatement. For five years he hadn’t seen a single person – employees not included – and now he was in a room with three other guys. That had never happened before and even though he really welcomed the change, he was scared that it meant something big was going to happen. Something that wasn’t good for any of them.

‘’Yeah, it’s a bit much isn’t it?,’’ Hyunjin said, eyes downcast as he retreated his hand and scratched the back of his neck.

Felix eyes wandered back to the pair at the wall and now the black haired guy had actually managed to get the other boy – Jisung, if he remembered correctly – sitting in his lap, facing each other and kissing the boy’s cheeks as they seemed to hold a conversation through their eyes.

It was sweet, but somehow it filled Felix’s stomach with dread.

‘’They came in around the same time and they kept them together at all times because of their abilities,’’ Hyunjin informed as he sat back down on the floor with a heavy sigh.

Felix followed Hyunjin but kept his eyes on the pair for a bit longer before turning to face him. An onset of questions flooded his mind and he just popped off without thinking much about it, ‘’How do you know all of this? Who are you people? How long have you been here? Are there more people here or is it just us? What kind of ability do you have? What kind of ability do _they_ have? And why is that boy gagged like that?,’’

By the end of his round of questions he was out of breath, almost heaving for air.

Hyunjin chuckled sadly and shot him a sympathetic smile, ‘’First of all, why don’t you tell me your name?,’’

‘’Oh, sorry. I’m Felix,’’

Hyunjin smiled again and held out his hand for the second time, ‘’Nice to meet you Felix,’’

Felix made sure not to leave the boy hanging for a second time and quickly shook his hand. The skin-on-skin contact was something he had been deprived of for so long that it felt incredibly foreign. He really appreciated it though and couldn’t help but squeeze Hyunjin’s hand. The other boy seemed to get it and squeezed back, not letting go and shuffling a bit closer to Felix instead so that their hands could lay comfortably on the boy’s leg.

‘’The guy with the black hair is Minho,’’ Hyunjin started off, ‘’He’s been here for, I think, two years now. Same as Jisung over there,’’

Felix turned around once again, his heart wrenching in his chest painfully as he saw that Jisung had fallen asleep in Minho’s lap, the latter’s arms wrapped around the boy’s waist protectively. 

He didn’t really know why he suddenly felt so sad but he guessed it had to do something with the way they interacted and how there was no way in hell it would work out for those two on the long run.

Not in a place like this.

Hyunjin let out another sigh and Felix refocussed on him, seeing that the boy’s eyes were suspiciously wet as well.

‘’To be blunt, Minho is mute but his ability is that he can understand every language out there. That’s the exact reason he and Jisung have been paired up from the beginning,’’

Felix’s brows furrowed as he tried to guess what made it that the researchers put those two together but he wouldn’t possibly guess what ability Jisung had that made him go so well with Minho.

‘’Why is that?,’’ he settled on.

‘’Well, I don’t know all the details but from what I know, Jisung can communicate with animals. Like I said, I don’t know how much he’s actually capable of but he must be in good control of his ability if they deemed it necessary to gag him like that. Like, how much damage can talking to birds do?,’’

To be honest, Felix _still_ didn’t quite get those two, but it wasn’t really a priority to know all the ins and outs of the two.

‘’How do you know all this?,’’ Felix wondered.

Hyunjin sent him a wink and that threw Felix off, but he ignored it.

‘’Let’s just say that I have the right friends in the right places,’’ Hyunjin whispered.


	2. Who Are You?

Time went by with Felix and Hyunjin chatting away, learning about their time at the facility and life before they had gotten here. He had learned that Hyunjin had actually been scammed. The boy had been offered a modelling job but when he had arrived at the address, he had been drugged – much like Felix had been – and the next thing he knew, he had woken up in the facility.

Somewhere along their conversation, Jisung had woken up and had waddled over – a very distressed looking Minho jogging after him – and had sat down next to Felix. Of course Minho had plopped down right next to Jisung and kept a firm grip on the boy's hand, still glaring daggers at Felix whenever he even lifted a finger in the direction of Jisung. Felix had introduced himself all over again and he understood why Minho was so fond of Jisung. Even though the boy had been restrained from talking, his eyes sparkled in amusement when he shook Felix's hand.

Felix didn't quite know what to make of Minho. He seemed a bit scary but more in a way that reminded Felix of a cornered animal on high alert, ready to give it's all in a last attempt to survive. He wondered what had happened to the boy for him to be in that constant state of distrust and anxiety, but he liked to think that he got the gist of it. 

Neither of the two who had joined Felix and Hyunjin talked - because they simply couldn't - but they were a comforting presence anyways. There seemed to be this mutual and unspoken understanding, them being somewhat happy to have ach other in the moment.

However, they were just at the point where Jisung had taken the liberty to softly poke every freckle on Felix’s face – Hyunjin giggling and Minho huffing silently in discontent – when the lights got switched off.

Hyunjin let out a shriek and Felix followed before closing his eyes and focussing on that spark in his chest. When he opened his eyes again, he found Hyunjin meters away from where he had been sitting earlier, his back pressed against the wall and his eyes frantically darting around.

To his right, Jisung was back in Minho’s lap and the boy had his head buried in Minho’s neck. And with the look of pure fear in Minho’s eyes, Felix remembered that they couldn’t see.

‘’Guys, it’s okay,’’ Felix screeched out on instinct.

Everyone around him flinched and Felix was pretty sure he heard a strangled sound coming from Jisung.

‘’We’re the only ones here,’’ He continued.

‘’H-how do you k-know?,’’ Hyunjin stuttered out.

Felix slowly got back up from the floor and looked around the room to see if anything was off, ‘’Night-vision so trust me. I’ll let you guys know when something changes,’’

The boys nodded and from the corner of his eyes, Felix saw Minho clutching the back of Jisung’s shirt in fear.

_‘’Group session eleven. New addition, test-fase,’’_

Felix shrunk on instinct and he saw the others doing the same. Before he could question what was going on and what those words meant, the door swung open and two men stepped into the room. Felix wondered what was going on but before he could ask, the men stalked into the room and were going straight for Minho and Jisung.

‘’Jis-,’’

Felix couldn’t even finish his sentence before the men had reached the pair and one of the men had gotten hold of Jisung’s arms, prying them off of Minho’s neck. A distressed sound escaped the boy’s throat as he aggressively got tugged up and Minho’s hands scrambled to get a hold of the boy, but he was pushed back by the other man.

‘’Hey!,’’ Felix snapped, stalking over to the man pulling Jisung to his feet and away from Minho, ‘’What are you doing!,’’

Before he could properly reach the boys, he got pulled back by his shirt and stumbled backwards. Arms caged him in, ‘’Stop. Don’t make this worse,’’ Hyunjin whispered in his ear.

So Felix was forced to watch how Minho desperately attempted to get the man off of him and how tears streamed down his face as he watched Jisung struggling against the other man’s grip, getting dragged away and out of the room.

Felix didn’t understand what was going on but it didn’t feel good.

Minho suddenly stilled and his eyes grew wide. The man finally got off of him and quickly paced to the door, shutting it loudly after stepping out. 

The room was completely dark again and Felix had never felt this confused in his life.

Hyunjin finally let go off him and as if on auto-pilot, Felix jogged towards Minho who was still on the floor, frozen. 

‘’Minho?,’’ Felix tried, but he got no response.

Felix dropped to his knees and tapped the boy’s cheek, trying to get him to react. He didn’t and Felix was sure he was going to pass out from anxiety if the boy didn’t un-freeze anytime soon. It wasn't normal. He had never seen this happen or have it happen to him and that was really freaking him out.

‘’F-felix? Where are you? Are you still h-here?,’’ Hyunjin suddenly whispered behind him.

He turned around and saw Hyunjin slowly shuffling forward, his arms stretched out and waving about in an attempt to find _something_ to ground him in the darkness. 

‘’Hyunjin, I’m right here. Just follow my voice okay?,’’

Hyunjin seemed to relax at least a little bit but his eyes were still blown wide and set in fear as he stumbled closer to Felix. It was when Hyunjin was within reach that Felix reached for the boy’s hand and took it in his own.

‘’T-thanks,’’ Hyunjin stuttered.

Felix let out a hum and pulled the boy to sit next to him, making sure to not let go of his hand. The boy glued himself to Felix’s side and the latter could actually feel his own heartbeat slow down as well and he wondered how he survived all these years on his own.

Then there was a hand suddenly gripping Felix’s trousers and he shot his head back to Minho, seeing the guy blinking rapidly and his face set in pure panic. There was nothing left of the previous Minho – no glares – and it settled into Felix’s brain that the boy was just as vulnerable as all of them were.

‘’Breathe Minho. Me and Hyunjin are right next to you,’’

The boy was clearly not doing so well and Felix didn’t blame him. If he didn’t have his ability, he would probably have been in the same position. Felix nudged Hyunjin and the latter seemed to understand as he let go of Felix's hand and let his hands trail to one of Minho's arms. They got Minho to sit up without any difficulty.

The grip on Felix’s trousers tightened and he saw Minho reach for his face. He almost recoiled back at the sudden movement but he figured that the black-haired boy was just trying to make sure Felix was there. So he let Minho’s fingers trail along his face and watched how the boy deflated and hung his head down.

‘’Guys? Are you both still here?,’’ Hyunjin whispered again, tightening his hold on Minho’s arm.

Right. They couldn’t see.

‘’Yes Hyunjin, we’re both here,’'

They stayed in silence for a while, none of them speaking up and just holding onto each other. Felix was scared and didn’t know what exactly was going on but the fear for the other boys took over his brain. He didn’t understand what had happened with Minho earlier or how Hyunjin didn’t seem to comment on it happening at all, like he had seen it happen before. And where had those guards taken Jisung?

It was painful to see how easy it was to strip someone of their comfort, of their stability and sent them into a place of fear and uncertainty. 

_‘’Revised test number one,’’_

They all flinched and Felix could hear something rumbling behind him. He shot around and was just in time to catch a panel in the wall closing. Felix’s eyes landed on something black next to where the panel had opened and he squinted his eyes in an attempt to see what it was.

The weird blob of black suddenly moved and Felix let out a strained wheeze, alerting the two next to him.

‘’What’s going on?,’’ Hyunjin rushed out, his hands once again waving in front of him.

But Felix was frozen.

He had never seen anything like the creature slowly moving their way. It looked like a cross-over between a snake and a chameleon but that didn’t really seem to describe it either. However, it was _big_. Felix estimated that it would reach his hip if he were to stand next to it.

‘’Felix?,’’

_‘’Test instructions,’’_ the voice announced, _‘’Take out experiment N-34,’’_

Experiment N-34? What in heavens name did that mean? And how did they expect them to kill that… _thing_ with their bare hands?

Felix shot back the two boys. Minho looked just as terrified as he felt, but Hyunjin suddenly looked strangely calm. Still fearful, but generally serene. 

‘’I need your help Felix,’’ Hyunjin suddenly breathed out before letting go of Minho’s arm.

The animal – if Felix could even call it that – was just a few steps away from them. However, Felix decided not to tell the boys. He knew he had promised to tell them whatever was going on earlier but he didn’t want to add to the distress on Minho’s face.

Felix let out a shaky breath and kept looking at the animal creeping closer, ‘’With what?,’’

‘’I need you to buy me at least half a minute and I’ll get it done. Keep me updated on where the thing is okay?,’’

Felix turned back to Hyunjin and let out a gasp as he saw the boy taking off his glasses and breaking the frame, creating sharp pieces of wire.

How was he going to buy the boy time though? He was in no way capable of fighting whatever _that thing_ was. Moreover, he didn’t understand what Hyunjin was even planning on doing.

‘’Okay…,’’ Felix whispered out, his mind going at least a million miles an hour, much like his breathing. He hadn’t noticed it before but with the growing tension in the room came the awareness of everything that was going on. He even picked up on Minho’s raging pulse from where Felix had his hand around his wrist.

By now, the animal was almost in arms reach and so, Felix nudged Minho to get the boy’s attention.

‘’Slowly scoot backwards. Don’t stop until you’ve hit the wall behind you,’’ He started, waiting until Minho nodded before he let go of the boy’s wrist, ‘’And Hyunjin, slowly walk back,’’

Felix didn't know where his sudden bravery came from but he was happy that it did and that he was present enough to actually give clear instructions.

Hyunjin stilled his movements before he unfroze and did what Felix asked, eyes still trained on the broken frame in his hands even though Felix knew he couldn't see them. And before Felix could turn back to see where the animal was at now, Hyunjin suddenly rolled up one of his sleeves, fisted one of the wires and aggressively dragged it over the skin on the inside of his arm.

‘’What are you doing?!,’’ Felix yelled out and Hyunjin flinched but didn’t stop.

‘’Keep it down!,’’ The latter hissed out. Felix didn’t know if it was because of the obvious pain he was causing himself or if it was because he had indeed startled the animal, ‘’I know what I’m doing,’’

Felix watched on in horror while he made his way to the wall as well. Even though his vision didn’t allow him to see colours other than greys and greens, he could clearly see the blood leaking out of the nasty gash on Hyunjin’s arm and traveling down his arm before dripping on the floor.

Hyunjin suddenly crouched down and pressed above the gash, making the blood rush out quicker and eventually forming a pool on the floor in front of the boy. Alarm bells kept ringing in Felix’s head but there was nothing he could do. Hyunjin had sounded so confident and stead-fast that he could only believe the boy when he had said that he knew what he was doing.

He watched as Hyunjin softly muttered under his breath before he pressed his hand into the puddle of blood. There was more mumbling and then a growl snapped Felix out of it.

‘’Guys,’’ he whispered as he looked back at the animal, ‘’We’re moving to the right,’’

Minho immediately responded and kept his back pressed against the wall as he slid over the floor. Hyunjin, however, didn’t respond at all and just kept doing whatever he was doing.

‘’Hyunjin?,’’ Felix tried.

Hyunjin just grinned – albeit very shaky - , something Felix hadn’t expected to see, ‘’Almost done. I assume it’s right in front of me?,’’

Felix confirmed the boy’s assumption and slowly scooted towards Minho, ‘’You have to move Hyunjin, he’s close,’’

The boy just shook his head and placed his other hand in the puddle as well, coating both of them hurriedly, ‘’Just tell me when he’s right in front of me,’’

Once again, he decided to trust Hyunjin and he lowly hummed before settling next to Minho, their backs pressed against the wall.

‘’Done,’’ Hyunjin muttered and he looked right in front of him, pulling his hands out of the puddle and holding them together.

Hyunjin couldn’t see it, but Felix saw that he was looking straight at the animal. The thing seemed to be focussed on Hyunjin only and Felix felt both relieved and scared. But he patiently waited, only the sound of heavy breathing echoing in the room. Then, the animal was close enough for Hyunjin to touch it if he stretched out his hands.

‘’Now,’’

And like a flash of lightning, Hyunjin shot out both his hands and got a hold of the animal.

The thing snarled loudly and trashed about. Hyunjin seemed to be struggling to keep it under control and Felix could see one of his hands wandering about the thing’s face, stopping once he had reached its eyes.

Hyunjin rapidly pressed his fingers into the animal’s eyes and Felix had to look away when he saw the boy actually digging into the tissue. The thing let out a loud whine and Hyunjin retracted his fingers, letting go of the animal and dashing to the left and settling into one of the corners of the room.

Felix shot his arm out to his right and got a hold of Minho’s shirt. The black-haired boy flinched but harshly gripped Felix’s wrist before curling into his side.

The thing fell to the floor and wiggled about, accompanied by a string of weird sounds and it went on for a while before it suddenly stilled.

Hyunjin looked around from where he had pressed himself into the opposite corner from where Minho and Felix where, ‘’Is it dead?,’’

‘’I-I think so?,’’ Felix croaked out, his throat too dry for comfort. 

They stayed like that for a few moments and then a voice came from one of the speakers again.

_‘’Revised test number one, passed,’’_

Hyunjin slid to the floor at the same time the lights came back on. Felix let out a low growl as he got blinded for the second time today and he buried his face in his hands. He could hear the door open and people shuffling in. What got him to open his eyes again was Minho suddenly disappearing from his side.

Felix slid his hands off his face and ignored the pounding in his head as he opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was two men hauling the animal off the floor. He looked past the guys and that’s when he saw Jisung getting thrown into the room by another guy.

Minho had already reached him and managed to catch the boy before his head collided with the floor, setting the boy into his lap once again.

‘’H-Hyung,’’ Jisung croaked out and that’s when Felix noticed that the boy wasn’t gagged anymore. 

The men left as quickly as they had come and Felix finally got a good look at Jisung. The boy looked severely drained of energy and when Felix got up and got closer, he saw tears streaming down the boy’s face and little circular burn marks running from his cheekbone, down to the side of his jaw and all the way down to the boy’s collarbone. It seemed like his clothes had been tugged at and he saw a trail of blood running down the boy’s other cheek, originating from a cut under his eye.

Felix felt sick and the only thing that filled his hearing were the boy’s heart-breaking whimpers. Minho ran his hand through Jisung's hair, rocking them from side to side in an attempt to calm him down.

A hand landed on Felix's shoulder and he snapped his head to his side. Hyunjin was looking down on him with a watery smile, ‘’Thank you,’’

He let his eyes travel from Hyunjin’s blood-stained hand in his shoulder up his arm. Now that the lights were back on, it looked like they were stuck in a horror movie that used most of its budget on fake blood.

But it wasn’t fake and the way it contrasted with the white was enough for Felix to feel the bile creeping up his throat. To make things worse, his eyes landed on the spot where Hyunjin had been at. The puddle was large and it stretched out, making it look like someone had actually used it to paint on the floor.

‘’W-what was that?,’’ Felix stuttered out.

‘’My ability,’’ was all that Hyunjin said before patting Felix’s shoulder and walking over to the pair on the other side of the room.

Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, Felix was back to being confused. Despite that, he settled next to the other boys. Jisung was still sniffling into Minho’s neck, the latter patting the boy’s back with tears in his eyes as well. Hyunjin was seated next to the two and just sat there, staring.

Their little moments of peace got interrupted by another blackout, followed by the door swinging open again. Before they even had time to react, they were all pinned down with a needle shoved into their neck.

Felix’s mind quickly grew hazy and all he could focus on was the screaming around him, the sound piercing his ears uncomfortably and he imagined he could his own voice mixed in with the others, but that didn’t seem quite right.

Then the screaming stopped and everything came to a halt. Black spots overtook Felix’s vision and the spots turned into one big blob and just like that, he was out again.


	3. Hi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Riopy - Le rêve d'une note

After waking up in his own room a couple of days later, everything turned back to normal, like nothing had ever happened.

So much so that Felix started to doubt his sanity, afraid he had reached the point where his mind had started to make things up in order to keep on going. Or maybe, he had unknowingly been administered some kind of chemical that had made him hallucinate.

He had tried asking everyone he came across but he was just ignored. He hadn't expected anything less.

Felix let out a sigh and tossed the rag back in the bucket, resulting in water spilling over and onto the floor of his room. Today was his assigned cleaning-day, meaning he had been tossed a bucket and a few other cleaning supplies. Call him crazy but he liked cleaning-day. It was a day without stupid tests or experiments. It was just him slaving away for almost the whole day to make sure his tiny room was squeaky clean.

He had been going at it for three hours now – if his brain did the maths right – and he decided to take a little break. He looked over to the glowing numbers imprinted on the wall on his left and he saw that it was almost time for dinner. To be fair, he was starving but his appetite was unsurprisingly low. Much like everything else, the food was always the same colourless mush and the confines of his own room made it taste even worse.

Felix let himself fall back on his bed and he rolled his head to the side to look out of the tiny window. There was nothing to see there but concrete buildings. However, his eyes caught little white specks traveling down from the sky and he shot up. 

Snow.

He loved snow, always had. He remembered convincing his parents to let him out of the house when the first snow of winter would fall, resulting in building snowmen and making snow-angels at night and way past his bedtime. He would kill to be able to go back to those times.

And now that he personally witnessed that winter had set in, he realised that his birthday had passed again without him knowing, without anyone knowing or anyone congratulating him for reaching twenty. Every year he would figure it out the same way and it stung every time. 

He ignored the white specs and tried to look passed the building outside his room.

The view told him that the facility was big but it always felt like he was the only one here. He was either on his own or with two guards. And ever since meeting Minho, Hyunjin and Jisung, his curiosity grew, wondering just how many others like him were trapped inside these walls. 

How many people found themselves as lost and lonely as him?

There was a knock on the door and Felix pulled himself out of his thoughts and heaved himself off the bed. He had just turned around when the door opened and one of the guards stepped in, holding a metallic tray in his left hand and a taser in his right. Felix knew immediately that the guy was new. Only the newbies kept their tasers in hand whenever they stepped into his room. He was completely sure when the guard set the tray on the floor with a shaky hand and his eyes never leaving Felix’s figure.

Felix didn’t know whether to laugh or to feel sorry for the guy. It was funny how people thought he was actually capable of harming someone. His ability was considered passive and he had never fought before so the taser really wasn’t necessary. It didn’t feel good to have people fear you and think of you like some sort of freak of nature, but there was nothing he could do about it.

The guard shuffled backwards and Felix scoffed, rolling his eyes as he crossed his arms. He saw the guard’s eyes widen and he spun around, stepping out of the room and shutting the door. There was the familiar click of a lock setting into place and then it was just Felix again. 

He let out a tired sigh and walked over to the tray, picking it up and sitting down on his bed again. To be honest, he grew more and more anxious by the day about being here. He tried to ignore it, to just accept it, but it kept gnawing at his brain every moment of the day. When he woke up, when he did those stupid tests, when he returned back to his room, when he did chores, when he tried to sleep…

Just, always.

He mindlessly chewed his food and turned to look outside again. From the lighting he could tell that the sun had started to set. Muted golds and pinks and lilacs bounced off the wall of the building right next to his and he got filled by this intense urge to see the sunset. Not just ghosts of it, no. 

He wanted to go outside. He wanted to roll around on endless fields of soft, green, grass. He wanted to see the day turn into night. He wanted to see those stars he hadn’t seen for years now.

The food turned to plain ash in his mouth at the thoughts and he painfully swallowed before frowning. He had barely managed to eat two bites but he suddenly felt full and a bit sick. It wasn’t as if there was something particularly wrong with the food but he couldn’t bring himself to take another bite.

So with that, he let out a sigh and got up from his bed, walked back to the door and putting down the almost untouched tray. If his day’s were going to be like this from now on, he really didn’t want them. What he did want, though, was to see the other boys. Jisung, Minho and Hyunjin. It was like a curse now that he thought about it. That day had been a blessing and a nightmare at the same time and he didn’t know what to make of it.

He knew he still had to finish up cleaning but he suddenly couldn’t bring himself to actually care so he sat down on his bed once again and let himself fall on his side, eyes trained on the bars covering the window.

Suddenly, the lights in his room turned red and with a horribly loud sound, a panel slid down from above his window and covered his view to the outside. Then there followed a screeching alarm sound, piercing Felix’s eardrums.

_‘’Automatic lockdown activated,’’_ came through the speaker in his wall, _‘’Repeat, Automatic lockdown activated,’’_

He shot up from his bed in panic, planted his feet on the floor and stayed seated on his bed, his muscles tense. His eyes darted across the room to take in what was happening. Red danced around his room like he was in some kind of club. The voice kept repeating over and over again about going into ‘automatic lockdown’ and Felix wondered what that even meant.

Stomps could suddenly been heard from down the hall outside his room and everything together threw Felix into a sensory-overload. Not once since he had been here had he encountered this kind of situation. It left him frozen but filled with fear and the combination of those two made his lungs contract in an unpleasant manner.

In the middle of his distress, his door got thrown open and three boys hurried inside before closing it, leaning their heads against the heavy slab of metal. And if it wasn’t for those all-too-familiar white clothing, Felix would’ve really lost it.

‘’Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!,’’ One of the boys muttered as he turned away from the door.

Said boy stilled after his eyes landed on Felix and he threw him a lopsided smile, ‘’Hi,’’

Felix was confused about how the boys had managed to get into his room and maybe a bit too scared for his liking and so, he just watched the boy with wide eyes.

The first thing he noticed was the guy’s jet-black wavy hair, held into place – somewhat – by a piece of string tied around his forehead and disappearing into his hair at the back. In Felix’s humble opinion, it looked nice. It framed his face well and it really showed off his sharp jawline. Overall, his built was a bit intimidating but Felix knew they were just like him and that he probably didn’t have to fear anything. If anything, the guy looked more reliable than scary.

The two other boys decided to turn around as well and Felix could feel his muscles relax a bit as he recognized Jisung. 

‘’Felix?,’’ Jisung gasped as he moved over to the bed, throwing his arms around Felix’s neck when he had gotten close enough to do so.

The boy’s hair tickled his nose and his airways got cut off slightly but that didn’t matter. Not when he could feel Jisung tremble. So he threw his arms around the boy on instinct and hugged him back.

‘’Sorry to interrupt the reunion or whatever this,’’ the other boy still at the door said as he gestured to Felix and Jisung, ‘’is, but we really have to go,’’

Jisung pulled back and turned back to the other guys, ‘’Felix is coming with us,’’

The words didn’t quite settle in Felix’s brain. He was too distracted by hearing Jisung speak for the first time. Technically he had heard him before but that didn’t count. Jisung’s voice was nice, soothing almost.

‘’What?!,’’ the guy at the door hissed, ‘’We don’t have room for another person and neither do we have the time to fill him in on the plan,’’

The guy looked pissed as he started pacing the room and his face was set in frustration as he kept glancing at the red light going crazy. He seemed to have it under control until the voice came from the speaker again, blaring the same message.

‘’And can that thing please shut the fuck up!,’’

‘’Seungmin!,’’ the guy with the wavy hair bellowed, effectively drawing everyone’s attention, ‘’Breathe,’’

‘’If you lose control we’ll all be deaf by the end of it so keep it in check,’’ Chan followed up.

What he meant by that, Felix didn’t know but now was not really the time to ask questions even though he really wanted to.

The boy – Seungmin – just nodded and placed his hands on his hips before hanging his head. He looked stressed from what Felix observed. But so was everyone else. Jisung left his side and went over to Seungmin and whispered something to the boy, earning him a nod and they hugged. Felix figured that Jisung just liked hugs, which would explain why he had been so attached to Minho that day. But maybe that had more to do with Minho being Minho than liking hugs.

‘’So, your name is Felix?,’’

Felix directed his eyes to the guy in front of him. He was crouched down next to the bed, facing Felix and looking up to meet his eye.

‘’Y-yeah,’’ Felix stuttered, a bit overwhelmed by the guy’s proximity. Which was stupid because he didn’t particularly have a problem with letting people into his personal space.

‘’I’m Christopher, but everyone just calls me Chan,’’ The guy smiled at him and took a hold of Felix’s hands.

Felix’s breath stilled and he could feel himself heating up, originating from where Chan’s skin was on his. 

‘’Hyung, let go now?,’’ Jisung interfered, looking way too anxious as he shifted from one foot to the other, ‘’He’s still locked up,’’

Chan finally broke eye-contact but not without throwing Felix a little wink, sending Felix’s brain into overdrive. Before he could comment on it, Chan stood up and pulled him off the bed with it. Felix expected for Chan to let go of his hands now. He partially did. Just one to be precise. Chan still held onto his right hand and even went as far as interlocking their fingers. For Felix’s sanity, he convinced himself that Chan was just the affectionate type.

‘’Seungmin, are you really sure Minho is on the second floor?,’’ Chan asked.

‘’For the last time, I’m sure,’’ Seungmin huffed before he walked to the door and lay down to look underneath the tiny gap between the floor and the door. He stayed like that for a minute or so before getting back up, ‘’It’s empty,’’

And Felix now understood why Jisung seemed to be on the brink of a mental breakdown. The boy was biting his lip and his eyes danced around the room, the fear on his face even more evident with the red light.

‘’Okay. Let’s go then,’’ Chan decided and he pulled Felix with him to the door, cracking it open.

Felix didn’t really know how it happened but one moment they were standing in his room and the next they were running through the hallway, Chan tugging him forward with a reassuring grip on his hand. Felix couldn’t remember the last time he had actually ran and even though he could feel the sweat building up on his forehead, it felt wonderful.

The hallways were just as chaotic as his room. Red light everywhere and the alarm blaring. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any guards present as they weaved through hallways. They came to a stop near the end off a hallway and Seungmin snuck around them and moved to stand in front of a door. There was a panel with numbers right next to it, meaning that it was probably locked. Felix saw Seungmin bend down and reach for his shoe, pulling out something that looked like a tiny screwdriver before straightening up again.

‘’This is gonna take a bit of time,’’ He rushed out as he started to unscrew the screws in the corner of the panel, ‘’So keep an eye out please,’’

Felix was grateful for the little rest. He was already exhausted and from the looks of it, Jisung was too. The boy was leaning against the wall, heaving for air.

He turned his head to look at Chan and found the boy already looking at him. Felix’s heart did a weird little flip inside his ribcage and he could feel his cheeks heating up. However, he couldn’t look away.

He noticed how Chan’s eyes were a beautiful dark-brown, almost black. His gaze didn’t waver at all and Felix was sure he was as red as a tomato now. But then he remembered that everything had a red haze so there wasn’t much for him to worry about.

What he did worry about was that it almost felt like Chan was looking right through him, like he was taking a good look into his soul. 

But then Felix saw his eyes wander his face.

Before he could even register how ridiculous the situation was, Chan suddenly raised his hand and placed it on his cheek, his thumb softly swiping across his cheekbone. 

‘’You have freckles,’’ Chan stated, seemingly fascinated.

Felix’s brain had flown out of the window at the sudden touch, ‘’W-what?,’’

Chan met his eyes again and smiled, his eyes almost disappearing as he did so, ‘’You have freckles. It’s cute,’’

That managed to get Felix to actually choke on air and he recoiled back to make sure he wouldn’t shower Chan with his saliva. He could feel his face heating up even more and he didn’t know whether it was because his body was trying to eject his lungs out or if it was because Chan had called him cute. Well, not him _per se_, but his freckles.

‘’You okay?,’’ Chan rushed out before patting his back.

Felix managed to throw him a dismissive wave, ‘’I-I’m fine,’’ he croaked out.

After what seemed like forever, he could breathe again and he looked back up at Chan, the guy looking at him with worry in his eyes.

‘’Got it!,’’ Seungmin suddenly yelled from their left, dropping the little screwdriver and turning the doorknob. 

The door opened without any resistance and the boy looked back at them with a triumphant smile.

Jisung was at the door in a flash and pushed Seungmin aside before disappearing down the stairs.

‘’Jisung!,’’ Chan yelled out before he rushed after the boy, dragging Felix with him by default.

Seungmin was still in the hallway when everything just stopped. The alarm halted and so did the red light. Felix and Chan turned around in confusion at the same time and Seungmin just shrugged before stepping out of the hallway.

‘’Don’t look at me,’’ he said as he closed the door behind him before rushing down the stairs.

Chan looked at Felix with his brows furrowed but quickly looked away when they could hear someone turning the doorknob of the door behind them.

‘’I’m sure they went this way,’’ A voice came from the other side of the door, ‘’What the hell did they do?! I can’t get it to open,’’

‘’Let’s go,’’ Chan whispered and off they were again.

Jisung and Seungmin were now nowhere in sight anymore and not even their footsteps echoing in the stairway could be heard. It was eerily quiet – only Felix’s ragged breathing and Chan’s loud footsteps filling the air – and it was unsettling. Chan seemed to grow more and more uneasy as they spiralled down the stairs as well. The grip on Felix’s hand almost grew painful but it was more reassuring than actually hurtful. It seemed to go on forever, Felix getting a bit dizzy from spinning around so much. 

‘’We’re almost there,’’ Chan breathed out, ‘’Just two more,’’

Felix nodded even though he knew Chan wouldn’t see. 

Just two more.

He could manage that.

However, as they reached the desired floor, they were met by about a dozen guards, all holding up guns in the direction they had come barrelling down the stairs from.

They came to a grinding halt halfway the stairs and Chan immediately tugged Felix behind him, blocking him from the direct line of fire.

‘’OS-4, turn around and raise your arms!,’’ one of the guards yelled.

Felix could see the muscles on Chan’s back tense and in a moment of complete stupidity, Felix got on the tips of his toes and peeked over Chan’s shoulder. His eyes caught the sight of two limp figures in white being carried by two guards, their arms and legs dangling and their heads rolled back.

He let out a distressed squeal seeing Jisung and Seungmin completely unconscious, accidentally reminding the guards of his presence.

‘’OS-3, move to the right with your hands up,’’

Felix shrunk and glued himself to Chan’s back. He was scared now that he had time to think and he didn’t want to get hurt. But most of all, he didn’t want to go back to being alone again. Fate liked to play quite the cruel game with him, letting him meet other people before ending up in his room alone again, just to repeat the process. 

So he held on to Chan for dear life.

However, Chan seemed to have a different idea and suddenly let go of Felix’s hand. Felix felt the cold seep into his veins immediately and he let out a shaky breath. Chan then tapped his hip without looking back. Almost on instinct, Felix let go of Chan and then he was gone – no longer standing in front of Felix but next to him instead.

‘’You have one last chance to comply otherwise we’ll shoot,’’

And with that, Chan raised his arms and turned around, shooting Felix another glance when their eyes met.

‘’Listen to them,’’ Chan whispered before looking away.

Felix didn’t want to listen. He wanted to run the opposite direction of the guards but he knew that he wouldn’t even be able to take one step before getting seriously hurt so he listened to Chan and turned around as well, almost tripping over his own feet as his legs felt like pudding.

He hadn’t even raised his arms yet or the sound of the guards rushing up the stairs could be heard. Felix looked at Chan from the corner of his eyes in a desperate attempt to burn his face into his brain. His eyes were stinging when he realised that he would probably never see Chan again after this. 

It hurt.

But then he forgot about it when something got jabbed into the side of his neck. He saw the same thing happening to Chan and he winched when he saw Chan’s face contort.

He didn’t have a lot of time to dwell on it, his legs giving out on him and his body crumbled down. The last thing he saw was the concrete stairs getting closer and closer to his face before everything went black again.

Why did things always end this way?


	4. Cruel

Once again, Felix found himself surrounded by darkness. No matter how wide he opened his eyes, he saw nothing. His head was fuzzy but it ached at the same time and it did nothing to comfort him. Neither did the feeling of this itch inside his veins. It was quite unfamiliar but he payed it no attention. He just played it off as an side effect of whatever liquid was in that syringe they had jammed into his neck.

It took him a bit but then he realised he was sitting up, his hands painfully bound behind his back, which meant he wasn't on the floor and that it wasn't the concrete that you could find all around the facility that was chilling him to the bone. 

No, it was probably a very uncomfortable steel chair. The way the chains on his wrist collided with what he was seated on every time he tried to move gave it away. 

The piercing cold had seeped into his back and through his whole body, numbing him from head to toe. He tried to lift any of his limbs but none of them really responded. All he managed to do was wiggle his index finger, but he wasn't completely sure about that either. 

This was unusual. 

It was so incredibly quiet around him that he was sure he wasn't in his own room. Normally he would hear the buzz of the electricity running through the bars outside his bedroom-window, or the water running through the pipes just behind his walls.

He tried to figure out where he was but he gave up as soon as he remembered getting injected and knocking out on those stairs. He remembered Chan right before passing out and with that came the racing of his heart, the quickening of his breathing and sweaty palms. 

Where were Chan, Jisung and Seungmin? The images of the three boys unconscious and at the mercy of the guards made him dizzy.

The complete silence around him suddenly got interrupted by a muffled scream coming through the wall on his left. Well, he couldn’t say for sure but it did sound like it. But that wasn’t really the point anyways. The point was that he could now feel little droplets of moisture gather on the base of his neck as he heard more screams, this time coming from the other side as well.

It was as if time stopped specifically for Felix so that those screams could sneak their way into his ears and settle in his brain, making his imagination going haywire with made up scenes of what was going on. 

Torture was a very real option and that was terrifying. His brain came up with images of Jisung crying as they pressed iron rods to his neck and chest, or Seungmin gritting his teeth as they slowly dragged sharp objects along the skin on his arms.

Chan's eyes on fire as he got beat up over and over again... 

He would go crazy if someone didn’t come and speed up time again. Anyone would do, even the researchers and their stupid tests. 

Oh, he would kill to be in that familiar room, summing up whatever objects were there.

Even though his body felt even heavier than before, the tingling in his arms and legs slowly dissipated. It took him all of his strength but after a few pitiful attempts he could actually move his hands and his knees. He huffed as he kept repeating the same motions over and over again, hoping it would trigger the rest of his body to follow. 

His prayers finally got answered when he could hear a door open and the next thing he knew, the blindfold got pulled off of him roughly, the fabric chafing the sensitive skin under his eyes.

However, Felix refused to open his eyes. He wasn’t going to like what he would see – he was sure of that – and so he stubbornly glued his eyes together even more.

There were more screams and more screams and more and Felix could feel his eyes well up behind his closed eyelids. 

The raw pain and agony coming through the walls was just too much. Sure, he was used to hearing himself cave and crumble due to terrible pain, but hearing it from someone else was almost unbearable.

Felix wasn’t stupid.

One plus one made two.

If Felix was here, the other probably were as well. And whatever the researchers or guards were doing to them made it feel like his ribcage was trying to shrink and dig its pointy ends into his organs.

‘’OS-3,’’ a voice in front of him said.

He flinched at that but kept his eyes closed. He was not going to indulge into whatever the person in front of him wanted him to indulge in. Call it dumb, but he didn’t care. 

‘’I suggest you open your eyes and cooperate,’’

To be honest, Felix was very tempted to just listen and make things easy for himself but then again, he was getting sick and tired of everything. He was getting tired of being treated like some kind of animal they could experiment on, like he wasn’t an actual human being with a will and a need for freedom.

Life in the facility had always been stuffy but he somehow had been able to suppress it for years, keeping himself afloat despite the water reaching dangerous levels and threatening to drown him. And he wondered if he had been able to keep doing that if he hadn’t met the others – if they hadn’t made him feel more alive in the couple of hours he spent with them than he had ever felt in those five previous years combined.

‘’Your friends are refusing to talk and believe me when I say that we won’t hesitate to resort to more drastic measures with you too,’’

Without even thinking about it, Felix snapped his eyes open and regretted it immediately when the light punched him in the eyes. 

He really fucking hated those lights.

He blinked rapidly and hurried his eyes to adjust, rushing them to get rid of that blurriness. It took him a couple of seconds but when they finally focussed, he saw that he was in a room he had never been in before.

Unlike the other rooms, the walls were a dark grey and seemed weathered down like they never really bothered to keep them as clean and neat as all the other walls in the facility. The lamp dangling above the table in front of him seemed quite old as well – rust creeping up to the side.

A tap on the table brought him out of his observations and he turned to the man sitting in front of him at the other side of the table. 

His built was big but Felix couldn’t say if it was all muscle or fat with a big blazer hiding his torso. What he could say was that the man was probably middle-aged or maybe a bit older. The little lines around the man’s mouth and on his forehead gave it away, just like the grey hairs peaking through his ashy-brown hair.

The man seemed normal enough but there was something about his glare that made the hairs on the back of Felix’s neck stand up.

‘’Now that I got your attention,’’ the man spoke with a sickening smile on his face, ‘’We have a little problem on our hands, don't we?,’’

Felix’s didn’t care and he was just about to say that when he heard someone screaming again and Felix swore that person had belted Minho’s name, along with pleas for people to stop. His heart sank to his stomach and he was too late to catch the little whimper leaving his lips.

The man seemed to notice and suddenly smirked.

‘’So how about you tell me a few things, hm?,’’

Felix let out a shaky breath and tried to block out whatever was going on outside of the room he was in, ‘’T-there’s nothing for me to tell,’’

‘’Don’t try that shit boy,’’ the man hissed back, ‘’We have six dead guards in our morgue and at least a few million dollars’ worth of damage so I don’t really have the patience to play this game,’’

Six dead guards?

What the hell.

‘’I d-don’t know anything about that,’’ Felix managed to reply, keeping his head down and his eyes focussed on his hands in his lap.

The men let out a long sigh and shot up from his chair before slamming his hands on the table, making Felix recoil back in his chair.

‘’Of course you do! When did you and your little friends plan all this?! How did OS-4 get his hands on the security key?,’’ the man yelled, ‘’It was his ability wasn’t it?,’’

Felix denied knowing anything again and that’s when the man lost his cool completely, rushing around the table and getting a hold of Felix’s collar. The man pulled him up a bit and Felix was starting to really panic.

‘’I already told you I don’t have the patience to do this so stop being so stupid and tell me how you guys managed to get out of your rooms and bypass the security checkpoints! And while you’re at it, it would be wise to inform me about what you guys were planning to do,’’

Little flecks of saliva hit Felix’s face and as much as he wanted to move away, the man’s grip on his shirt was so tight that there was nowhere for him to go. He wanted to answer, he really did, but he really didn’t know anything.

He didn’t know how everyone seemed to know each other. He didn’t know how they managed to get out of their rooms and meet up. He didn’t know how Seungmin seemed to know his way around the facility. He didn’t know how they knew where Minho was. He didn’t know why they had even attempted to get to Minho.

There was so much he didn’t know and right now that really scared him.

But then again, he couldn’t give away what he didn’t know. Simple.

And even if it meant he was _not_ going to be having a fun time, it was okay. There was really no possibility of Felix backstabbing them even if they tried to torture the information out of him. There was no possibility that he would slip up and feel horrible about slipping up.

A harsh slap on his left cheek pulled him back into the present and his head snapped to the right, his ears ringing from the impact.

The man let go and moved back to the chair, ‘’We have three options here,’’

Felix blinked away the tears in his eyes and tried to ignore the stinging on his face.

‘’One, you stop being stubborn and tell us everything,’’

God, the man was never going to believe Felix didn’t know anything, was he?

‘’Two, you keep being stubborn and we add some more scars to those you already have,’’ the man continued, a smug smile meeting Felix as he looked at the man.

He shivered at the thought and his hand itched but he suppressed the urge to scratch.

The man’s eyes narrowed before he leaned back in his chair and inspected his nails, ‘’Or three, we can go and see who of your friends would bleed out the quickest after we cut off their fingers one by one,’’

That got Felix’s blood rushing through his body like crazy and he shot up, ‘’No!,’’

The man laughed again, ‘’We could make a fun bet on who’d be out first. I'm sure the guards would like that. This one time they bet on who could make OS-6 talk. It was really fun but they gave up when not even messing with OS-5 right in front of him worked. They forced him to watch but he still wouldn't talk,’’

Felix could actually feel the blood drain out of his face and with that came the nausea creeping up his throat. His stupid mind came up with even more horrible scenarios than before and all of them were just as sickening as the other.

There was a dark twinkle in the man's eyes, ''OS-5 passed out, but maybe that was for the best. From what I've heard, OS-6 was quite upset after that. He even went as far as trying to claw one of the guards eyes out. Which he partially managed to do, I may add,''

Images of screams and tears and despair.

''Oh and I think they tried to get OS-4 to cry once,'' the man continued, ''Now _that_ turned out to be quite the bloody affair. I'm surprised the skin on his back actually managed to repair itself,''

Felix realised how lucky he had been. From what he heard, the others had been hurt way more than him, in way more horrible ways. He had always thought that the people working in the facility were horrible but now he could only label them as monsters. Pure evil, if you will.

‘’But I think it would be OS-5 who would be gone first. That boy can barely stop himself from crying when OS-6 isn’t around,’’ the man muttered, ‘’Pathetic. So weak,’’

‘’W-what?,’’ Felix stuttered out.

‘’Or OS-4, but maybe that has more to do with the fact that I’m not particularly fond of him. The boy never listens. But neither does OS-7 so I really can’t say,’’

Felix’s brain was going into overdrive. 

He knew that Chan was OS-4. The guard had called him that on the stairs. OS-5 and OS-6 would probably be Jisung and Minho from the little information Felix had, which meant that OS-7 was Seungmin.

In the midst of the suffocating silence, Felix’s noticed just how silent it was. There was no more screaming around him and he didn’t know whether to feel relieved or scared.

A knock on the door interrupted the tension in the room. The expression on the man’s face changed from amusement to annoyance as he got up and walked over to the door, opening it and revealing one of the guards. Said guard whispered something into the man’s ear before walking off again.

The man let out a stifled snort and turned around.

‘’Seems like one of your little friends cracked. I knew OS-5 would be easy, really. Just mention OS-6 and the boy will do everything you ask of him,’’

Felix’s heart squeezed painfully.

From what he understood, they most likely threatened Jisung into spilling the beans, using Minho to get him talking.

It was plain cruel.

He was completely speechless and he wondered how people could be so… evil.

‘’I’ll be back in a couple of minutes and I really hope you’ll take that time to really think about how you want this to proceed,’’

And with that, the man was gone and Felix was on his own again.

How had things come to this? How had everything turn so messy and terrifying? 

Felix had learned so much over the last few days but none of it did anything to help him understand what was actually going on here. If anything, it left him with more questions. Questions he had never even asked himself before.

The worst of it was that he had somehow managed to get attached to the others in such a short time and now that he had, he had so much more to be scared about. It wasn’t just about himself anymore. It wasn’t just about his own pain and demons anymore.

He was sure that things were only to get worse from here. There was no way that things would go back to normal after this. It was impossible.

‘’Dear God,’’ Felix whispered under his breath.

‘’Please help us,’’


	5. Too Far

His wrist were staring to seriously hurt. The feeling wasn’t all that unfamiliar but he hated it. He hated feeling like a caged-in animal. But truth be told, that’s what he was. That’s what all of them were.

It felt as if he had been in this room for hours now. It very well could be – he wasn’t able to tell the time anyways. He was getting agitated from looking at the same walls over and over again, something that never really happened in his own room. Maybe it was because the place lacked furniture or maybe it was because he was limited in his moving. Either way, it sucked. 

The man had left quite a while ago and even though being on his own was good, it was getting him worked up. To be fair, anyone would in the same situation. But not a lot of people found themselves in the same situation and Felix often would ask himself, why him?

But that was when he was still alone. In both the physical and mental sense. 

Over the days, it had morphed to, why _them_ instead. It wasn’t good but it wasn’t particularly bad either. Good because he finally wasn’t completely alone anymore and he had really taken a liking to the boys. He did question how genuine those feelings of attachment were – desperation made people do weird things, even creating bonds with others without a solid foundation – but he pushed that to the back of his mind.

And at the same time it was bad because things were simply easier when you were alone. You didn’t have to worry about anyone but yourself. Whatever you did, you would be the only one to face the consequences. 

The door opened and Felix’s head shot up, fearing the man had returned to live up to those threats he had posed earlier. But when he looked at the people standing in the doorway, there was no sign of the man from before. Instead, two guards stepped in and moved to stand next to him, one at each side.

‘’Good news. You’re relocating,’’

Felix frowned, confused about what the guard meant with that, but he didn’t bother to ask as the chains on his ankles got unlocked before he got heaved to his feet by his upper arms.

For a second, the room spun at the blood suddenly shifting in his body and he was sure he would have gone down if it wasn’t for the iron grip on his arms. There wasn’t much time for him to recover from the wave of vertigo as Felix found himself getting dragged out of the room and into the hallway.

It was when he saw that the rest of the hallway looked about the same as the room he had been in that he figured he was probably in a different part of the facility. If he even was at the facility at all.

He could hear footsteps echoing all around him, lamps zooming above his head and he even imagined hearing something scurrying somewhere behind him. To be clear, the place looked like some kind of World War Two bunker – how he imagined they would look – but a tad bit more organized. Which was a strange change from the white walls and polished floors he normally saw.

Bits of concrete lay around in the corners of the hallways and the whole place was poorly lit and overall gave off a creepy vibe. Which was an impressive feat because Felix had always thought that the sterile rooms he normally found himself in were the most intimidating things. He had never done well with the lack of _life_ around him and if there was one word he wouldn’t use to describe the environment he normally found himself in, it would be lively.

Felix had seen movies when he was younger and where he found himself to be at the moment reminded him of those movies where the mafia would take and torture people who still owed them money.

The fact that he could kinda place the space into an already formed box in his head didn’t seem to relieve his racing mind in the slightest. 

The people in those movies rarely lived to tell the tale, if he remembered correctly.

They ended up at a dead end, a big metal door on the right. From what Felix could see, there were no fancy locks or intimidating security-measures. Just a big slab of metal against a run-down wall.

From the corner of his eyes, Felix saw one of the guards pressing a few buttons on a walkie-talky like device and the door in front of them suddenly slid open. It was loud and Felix winced at the piercing sound of metal scraping against concrete.

He got dragged forward again – almost tripping over his own feet as they felt heavy - once the door had completely opened and the guards led him through a dimly-lit room. The air was stuffy and smelled like mould and weird chemicals at the same time, attacking his airways immediately. 

He coughed and one of the guards shot him an irritated look, making Felix’s muscles tense and he tried to stifle the coughs, feeling himself calm down once they disappeared.  
There was nothing there accept yet another door, looking about the same as the one from before and it got confirmed when they went through the whole procedure from before again.

The guards tugged him forward and they were standing in another room again. He hadn’t really registered what he was seeing, but the low rumbling of the door closing behind him snapped him out of his sudden daze and his heart dropped.

He was standing in between two rows of see-through boxes, five of them at each side making ten in total. They were like tiny rooms within the room, clear walls reaching all the way to the ceiling. The boxes were stuck together, making it look like one big rectangular room if it weren’t for the walls dividing it into parts.

It was almost as if Felix had found himself in a pet-shelter, but for humans.

Because as the guards started dragged him to the end of the room, Felix could name every boy stuck in the boxes he passed.

Minho was the first one on the left, back pressed against the corner at the wall and just starting to his left. Felix had followed his gaze and his eyes had landed on Jisung, the boy seemingly unconscious in the box at the end of the row. The box opposite of him was empty, much like the one next to him.

The second box on the right contained Seungmin. Felix met the boy’s eyes and the previously feral glare on Seungmin’s face turned into disbelief and the boy rushed forward, throwing himself against the glass. Felix could _see_ him screaming something at him, but he couldn’t hear it. Much like with Minho, the boxes next to him were empty. 

The nausea became real when he passed the third box on his left. Hyunjin looked like he had gone to the other side before getting resurrected. He was pale and bony and Felix wondered how the boy had gotten himself in here in this half-dead state. He hadn’t seen Hyunjin earlier so he assumed that the boy had nothing to do with it, but maybe he was wrong.

A harsh tug on his arms propelled him forwards and he didn’t have enough time to see what was up with Jisung in the fifth box on the left, neither did he with Chan in the fourth on the right.

‘’Welcome to your new home,’’ One of the guards sneered as a panel appeared on the glass.

They looked like the ones they would use to control things like the temperature and lights in his old room, but with more bars and charts and weird symbols.

He didn’t know how it had happened but suddenly a doorway appeared in the glass wall, enabling an entrance into the box. He got pushed in roughly and fell to the floor on his knees, the uneven concrete scraping against his trousers and creating a burning friction between the fabric and the skin on his knees.

Felix hissed out and sharply turned around. The guards made their way out of the boy and Felix didn’t hesitate to get onto his feet with the intention to get out, but the wall was already whole again and he saw the retreating backs of the guards. He stumbled to the wall – ignoring the dull ache in his knees – and tried to find the door. 

He became frantic as he traced the glass with his fingertips, scurrying to find any trace. However, there was no sign of a door being present and he started to panic. It was as if everything suddenly caught up with him and his throat closed up on him as a response, making it impossible for him to take anything more but small gasps.

Movement came from his left and he spun around, coming face to face with Chan standing on the other side of the wall, eyes set in concern as he looked straight at him. Felix’s breath hitched and his heart did a strange loop, only to crash back into place with a sharp pain. 

He could see Chan mouthing his name before wincing, moving to lean his forehead against the glass. And if Hyunjin had made him worry, Chan shot his mind straight into derailing fear.

Felix’s let his eyes wander and he saw the boy’s hands covered in blood, staining his whole uniform actually. It was smeared all across his trousers and as Felix’s eyes travelled up his body, he could see the liquid had found it’s way to his neck as well. Most of it seemed to be dried up but that only made it look even more gruesome.

Chan looked up again and shot him a small smile, as if he was telling Felix that it was okay. It wasn’t and Felix unfroze and dashed to where Chan was, his lungs contracting as the other placed his hands on the glass, still looking at Felix.

It was so quiet. So incredibly quiet that it wasn’t _normal_. It was strange and eerie and Felix suddenly felt terribly lonely again, even with the five other people visible. Even with Chan so close, only a layer of glass separating them. Maybe even more so by seeing Chan so close, yet too far away. 

Felix needed contact.

Never once in his life had he felt this urge to just be around someone. No, that wasn’t completely right. He needed more than that. 

So without thinking much, he lifted his hands as well and placed them on the same spot as Chan’s. 

Still nothing.

Still too far away.

Even when he copied Chan and rested his head against the glass, it didn’t work. There was no warmth or comforting contact and it was weighing down on his shoulders. It was slowly started to crush him and he pressed against the glass harder, hoping that if he used enough force, he would finally _feel_ Chan’s skin against his.

Chan’s smile had dropped and now he just looked so sad, pure pain radiating from them and hitting Felix like someone was trying to stone him to death.

It was suffocating him and Felix was getting more and more frustrated. He could feel his eyes sting uncomfortably and the muscles in his face contort.

And when he realised that Chan was silently crying, he lost it.

Something just snapped in him and tears were rolling down his face as well, making his vision blurry and the image of Chan blurred. He pushed harder and harder even though he couldn’t see the other anymore, just a vague outline of where he was standing.

How had they ended up here? What was going on?

Felix barely registered the ugly sounds that were leaving his mouth as he punched the glass, hoping the force would shatter the wall. Of course it didn’t and it just made his knuckles hurt. He hissed and recoiled back, cradling his hand as he squeezed his eyes closed.

After what felt like hours, the pain ebbed away and he let out a shaky breath before looking back up.

Chan was laying on the floor, unmoving and with his back to Felix.

The wind got knocked out of him and he knees buckled, unable to keep him up and he let his body slump to the floor. A heavy feeling settled in his chest and he doubled over, wrapping his arms around himself to try to get some sort of comfort.

Felix didn’t quite understand why seeing Chan hurt made him feel so _lost_, but he knew that he never wanted to feel like that ever again.

So he just cried and cried, slowly letting himself slip unto the cold concrete floor, his head turned away from where he knew the other boy was laying. His vision ended up directed at Jisung in the box opposite of him, still very much unmoving.

Was the way Felix was feeling similar to how Minho felt when he looked at Jisung whenever there were obvious marks of abuse littered on his skin? Was this the way Jisung would feel whenever Minho wasn’t in his sight?

But finding and explanation didn’t really matter. All that mattered was that it hurt and that every bone in his body seemed to ache.

His eyelids became heavy and Felix knew that he had tired himself out. Closing his eyes was too scary, too daunting – he feared he would wake up even more alone than he was now – but he too exhausted to fight.

So he pulled his knees to his chest as he shivered, feeling a last tear leaving his eye and running over his temple before disappearing from his face.

When Felix woke up, the first thing he noticed was that his whole body ached. Even the smallest of movements made it feel like his limbs were too heavy to defy gravity. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times to get rid of the blurriness, groaning as the bright light hit his eyes.

Talking about eyes, it felt as if someone had forced him to keep them open while holding a blow-dryer to them. They stung and blinking actually _hurt_. However, he did manage to get them to focus and as he took in his environment, he shot up despite the way his body protested.

Right.

He wasn’t in his own room anymore. Or more like, his _old_ room. 

Felix whipped his head around and could see that the rest of the boys were laying on the floor as well, each of them in a similar curled-up position as Felix had found himself in just a few seconds ago.

He already felt sorry for the way their bodies would ache when they would wake up.

With a huff, he managed to scoot back so that he was sitting with his back to the only concrete wall in the room. He leaned his head against the wall and looked to his left. Chan was still laying in the same way as before and if it wasn’t for the fact that Felix caught his chest slowly going up and down, he would have freaked out. Not that he wasn’t, but not to the point where he couldn’t think rationally anymore.

To be honest, he felt a little bit better than yesterday, but that wasn’t so difficult after breaking down like that. Despite the lack of furniture and the way he had slept on the floor, he felt pretty refreshed. His mind had slowed down and there was a weird numbness, distracting him from thinking about the situation he - _they_ \- were in and he just looked around the place lazily.

In the midst of his observation, he noticed how none of them were directly placed next to each other – except him and Chan.

It dawned on Felix that they had probably done that on purpose, seeing a none of them were in rooms next to each other. But he didn’t understand what their reasons were. Was it to keep them from communicating? 

The soundproof walls seemed to support the idea but then again, they could see each other and there were so many ways they could communicate. Felix couldn’t really think of any right now, but he knew the others were smart and would surely find a way.

But that wouldn’t really do anything. It wasn’t as if they could plan anything like they were going to magically get the opportunity to get out of this place. There were too many security measures and too many guards.

Felix had though about it before, right after he had been taken to this place. His mind had gone into survivor-mode and every step someone should follow when kidnapped repeated over and over in his head. Stupid how most of his knowledge came from movies he had seen when he was younger, but it made him feel less helpless.

So he had done the whole shebang, trying to find the pattern in the change of the guards outside his room, looking for any possible exits, trying to cooperate and gain some sympathy…

None of it had helped him come up with a decent plan, not one that would have worked of course, but at least he could say he had tried. 

He let his eyes wander around the room once more and found that Hyunjin was staring at him. When the boy had woken up and moved, Felix didn’t know. Hyunjin looked angry and if it wasn’t for the little smile as Felix made eye-contact with him, he would have been genuinely scared. 

The boy waved at him and it looked so defeated that Felix couldn’t help but let the corners of his mouth drop. Hyunjin noticed and his arm slowly dropped next to his sides, hands balling into fists as the boy directed his gaze to the ceiling.

Felix followed the boy’s eyes in confusion, but he couldn’t particularly see anything special. However, when he looked back at Hyunjin, he saw the boy blinking rapidly. Felix was too far away to see why he was doing that exactly, but it reminded him of last night and how he had done the same.

Hyunjin was trying not to cry.

Another crack in Felix’s heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> high-key have no idea where I'm going with this, but it's fine. I'll figure it out :)


	6. Too Much

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait.  
It just didn't work out :/

For God knows how long, Felix had just been staring at Hyunjin – the boy staring back just as hard – and even though they weren’t talking, it was as if Hyunjin’s eyes spoke millions.

And Felix could easily distinguish every emotion going through the guy.

Anger, sorrow, hatred, fear, disgust and the list went on. 

Felix understood but at the same time, he didn’t. Sure, the situation they all had found themselves in was enough of an explanation but then again, Felix had no clue _how_ they had ended up here like this.

There was a huge gap in information Felix had about everything and it made him anxious. The lack of knowledge gnawed away at his insides, filling him with a certain restlessness. And from what he had observed, there was no way to ask the others to help him get rid of that feeling.

So he just stared at Hyunjin and hoped that it would do _something_ to help him understand. 

He had noticed that the boy’s hands were tied behind his back and whenever Hyunjin shifted, he saw him wince, the fabric probably digging into his skin. And for such a high-tech facility, Felix was seriously confused about the seemingly primitive way to keep the boy from using his hands. No fancy handcuffs, just a piece of shiny fabric. It was almost as if they didn’t really want to hurt him, didn’t want to _damage_ him.

For what reason, Felix didn’t know but he was glad that the skin on Hyunjin’s wrists was just agitated and not bleeding.

Every now and then, his eyes would wander to Chan to see if he was okay. Felix couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath every time he did. Chan clearly wasn’t doing fine – dried blood just about everywhere - but his chest still moved up and down and that was good. He was alive and right now, Felix took whatever he could get. 

He had no idea how much time passed when he suddenly saw Jisung move in the little room across him. Felix let his gaze wander away from Chan and settled on the boy in front of him instead. 

Jisung slowly pushed himself off the floor but his arm suddenly seemed to give out and the boy crashed back down, his jaw connecting with the concrete in a way that made Felix wince and hold his breath.

His heart sped up again and the worry seeped into his bones, making his chest feel a bit tighter than normally.

Seriously.

Why did the squirrel-like boy in front of him keep getting hurt?

Deep down he knew the answer but that only made him feel more lost and anxious. He wondered how someone could even hurt such an innocent-looking kid.

From the corner of his eyes, Felix saw Hyunjin’s eyes widen as he looked at Jisung. All the hatred and anger disappeared from the guy’s face and worry came instead. Felix could actually _see_ Hyunjin’s face colour an alarming amount of shades paler than before and when he looked back at Jisung to see what had elicited such a response from Hyunjin, he came up blank.

Jisung was now laying on his side with his back towards Felix, making it impossible to see what was wrong. However, Felix _did_ catch the younger boy cradling his arm like it was the most precious thing on earth.

So he looked back at Hyunjin, finding the boy already looking at him. Before Felix could even try to ask what was wrong, the other held up his arm and pointed at his wrist. He was confused about the gesture but then Hyunjin mouthed something to him.

_Broken_

And right at that point, Jisung rolled on his back and sat up, enabling Felix to see. 

He felt his stomach churn at the revelation and he could feel the bile burning his throat. 

Jisung’s wrist was decorated in the most ugliest of shades – dark purples, angry reds, sickening blues – and even though Felix didn’t really know _that_ much about the human autonomy, he was sure that bones weren’t supposed to stick out.

His body shot forward on instinct when Jisung’s eyes met his, but he could only get so far until he hit the see-through wall. 

The younger looked like he had been buried alive before getting dug up again, his face a pale grey and jaw clenched. But despite the pain he was clearly in, Jisung smiled at Felix, tears rolling down his face as his eyes turned into crescents. Felix’s heart broke when he could see Jisung mouthing an apology, probably for spilling the beans but that was the least of Felix’s worries right now.

They didn’t have a lot of time to dwell on it as the door suddenly opened and eight guards came walking in, six of them with metal trays in their hands making their way into the room and the other two lingering at the door with tasers strapped to their belt.

All of them were wearing bulky hearing-protection, indicating that _someone_ here could do something that required people to hear him and Felix came to the conclusion it would either be Seungmin or Chan because he basically knew what the rest of them could do.

Then there was one particular guard wearing goggles as well, his face almost gone completely and hidden away behind all the equipment. He also wore a taser _and_ a gun, much to Felix’s horror. 

Now that he though about it, how did they even know what equipment helped to protect them?

They would have had tested that and even though Felix’s ability was not meant to bring havoc and destruction, there would have been plenty of others that could do some real damage. 

Hyunjin seemed to be one of those people – with the little blood-trick he did some time ago – and Chan just had this air of ‘don’t fuck with me’ about him. Not that Felix felt intimidated by the guy, no, more like _safe_ but he could imagine how Chan would be capable of flipping some kind of switch and raise hell.

Which was all speculation of course, but he liked to think he knew how Chan worked. And coincidently, the one heavily dressed-up guard indeed stopped in front of Chan’s box and Felix knew that he was right.

Chan was the really dangerous one here.

He thought back on what had happened on the stairs and he figured the guards and researchers were also very aware of whatever Chan could do. After all, without directly saying it, they had threatened Chan with both Jisung and Seungmin. It was as if it had been in the air; an unspoken demand for Chan to surrender or else something would happen to the other boys.

Now that Felix thought about it, it seemed like one of their favourite tactics. Even though he barely knew the boys around him, he knew that Minho and Jisung would repeatedly get the threat and Chan seemed to be the protective guy, meaning that they could probably use _anyone_ to get the guy to comply.

He got snapped back into reality when he saw a shadow on his left. One of the guards had stopped right in front of him, tray in hand and intimidating as hell.

Felix then figured the trays meant food. After all, they were the same trays as always.

Food.

The last thing Felix wanted to do was _eat_. 

Seemed like he didn’t really have a lot of say in the matter when the guard punched in something on the panel outside. Felix expected the door to open and for a split second he tried to think of a plan to get out without getting hurt, but he knew that wasn’t possible or smart. But the natural instinct to get out of where he was confined was there.

There was a faint noise on his left and when he looked over, he saw a small opening in the normally dense glass wall, seemingly just big enough for the tray to slid through. He wondered how they managed to hide these little openings. Just like the door, it didn’t give away it had even been there.

The guard crouched down and indeed pushed the tray through the gap, standing up again when the glass became whole again.

Felix’s stomach betrayed him and growled at the sight of the food and the previous nausea was quickly forgotten. It wasn’t all that weird when he couldn’t even remember the last time he had eaten anything. It sure felt like ages.

The guard in front of him took his time walking back to the door – the little kick he gave the glass at Minho’s cell making the boy jolt – and Felix now saw that the guard in front of Chan was crouched down as well, gun in his left hand as he shoved the tray through the little gap.

A precaution Felix didn’t feel so good about.

Plus, Chan was still as unmoving as before so it really was a bit overkill.

Then there was movement on his right again and when he looked over, he saw two guards standing _in_ Jisung’s cell, the boy unmoving but awake as he lay on his back. One of the guards was practically straddling Jisung in order to keep him from moving and the other was crouched down next to him. 

Felix could feel his heart thump loudly in his chest but it calmed down a bit when he noticed a medical kit on the floor and one of the guards carefully wrapping the boy’s arm. He wanted to scream at them that he needed _proper_ treatment, cast and all, but there was nothing he could do. He just hoped that the bones would miraculously settle themselves properly or that they would return to fix it later.

That was a long shot but he tried not to think about that.

The men had left as abruptly as they had come and it was just the six of them again. 

Minho was still stuck in the corner and it didn’t look like he had moved even an inch, eyes still trained on Jisung on his left. Hyunjin had been so smart to block the boy’s vision previously to make sure he wouldn’t see what was up with Jisung before the guards had wrapped up his wrist. Hyunjin was now stuck to the wall behind him as well - slowly munching the food -, enabling Minho and Jisung to see each other. 

From what Felix could see, they were just staring but somehow it felt like they were holding a conversation through their eyes, something that surely had been the result of the two spending day and night next to each other.

Felix didn’t know whether to be jealous or happy.

He had been so lonely, for years and years just him by himself and the idea that he could have had someone to make things a bit more bearable was crushing his lungs. Everything would have been so much better with purely another human being with him.

But then again, being on your own meant that there was no-one they could use to threaten you with. 

And that was probably better than getting attached and seeing someone you _love_ getting hurt.

That only got confirmed when he saw the two.

Even though Jisung was the one hurt, Minho was the one with tears streaming down his face and brows furrowed in anger, Jisung showing a little smile which Felix was sure was meant to be reassuring.

Which was a futile attempt if you asked him because nothing really worked reassuring.

His eyes flitted away from the boys in front of him and he saw Chan still as unmoving as before. 

Felix was getting really, _really_ worried. Chan didn’t look like he was doing much better than yesterday and with the display of utter lack of proper medical care the guards showed with Jisung just a few minutes earlier, he feared that they hadn’t really payed attention to Chan all that much either.

For all they knew, the guy was suffering from internal bleeding or broken ribs or severe head-trauma and that meant death if he didn’t get treated properly.

His eyes watered as he looked at Chan’s back, his torso slowly and staggery moving up and down. A painful jab to his insides followed and he let out a shaky breath. 

It hurt.

It hurt to see the normally strong and dependable-looking guy shredded to a barely-breathing body.

And Felix realised that he had already grown _attached_, to the point he rather be hurt himself than the guy next to him.

The epiphany scared him, to be honest. Especially because he _knew_ that it would only lead to more hurt and pain and fear and all things negative. 

But that didn’t stop him from letting it crash over him and his body moved on auto-pilot again. He heaved himself off the floor and sat down next to the glass again, tapping it in an attempt to get Chan to wake up.

Of course it wasn’t going to work with everything being all sound-proof and all, but that didn’t stop him from trying.

God, how much he wished Chan would just wake up.

His eyes suddenly caught Seungmin somewhere down the line at the back, pacing around the small room. Felix momentarily stopped his frantic tapping to focus on the boy and he saw Seungmin muttering things to himself with such vigour that Felix couldn’t catch a single thing.

However, Felix perked up at the idea of Seungmin wrecking his brain to figure things out.

From the small interaction he had with the boy, it was clear to him that Seungmin was the really smart one. He just carried this air of intelligence around him and that was something that did help Felix feel at least a little bit assured. If someone was smart enough to think of a decent plan, it was probably Seungmin.

And then Felix saw movement from the corner of his eyes.

He was sure he had almost caused a whiplash by the speed he threw his head to the movement, his neck actually making a weird cracking sound while doing so.  
Chan was moving.

Not just breathing.

He was actually trying to push himself off the floor, which he managed to do.

Felix’s breath hitched and he could feel his eyes growing double in size in shock. He jerked up when Chan sat right up – swaying a bit – and turned his head to look around. 

Their eyes met and Felix’s vision turned blurry, making it difficult to make out Chan’s features. However, he did catch Chan grimace and doubling over, holding onto his ribs. 

Felix shot up in worry and plastered himself to the glass, his eyes darting all over Chan’s body as the other stayed curled up. 

It was probably just seconds, but they sure felt like minutes before Chan straightened up again, an apologetic smile on his face as he moved to get closer. Felix only freaked out more and shook his head in hopes that Chan would stop putting unnecessary strain on his body. Chan didn’t seem to pick it up and Felix saw the previous smile slipping off his face, his jaw locking and the tension in his body radiating from him.

Nonetheless, he made it to where Felix was and he let himself sag against the cold glass, his head leaned against it and his pants fogging up the glass.

Felix took deep breath and let himself slump as well. He closed his eyes and noticed his fingers twitching and he balled his hands up in fists in an attempt to get himself to _calm_ down.

Chan was okay.

He was moving and conscious and that was all that mattered right now.

When he opened his eyes again, Chan was already staring at him in a way Felix couldn’t decipher, but he felt his cheeks heat up anyways and Chan seemed to scoff before shooting him another smile.

They sat there like that for a while until Felix remembered the food.

He wasn’t hungry – not when all he could see was the darkened bloodstains on Chan - or really felt like he needed to eat but Chan sure as hell needed to get as much nutrients in him as possible. He looked haggard and tired and overall _bad_ and there was nothing Felix could do about it but make sure the boy ate.

So with that he pulled back and tapped the glass again, this time effectively catching Chan’s attention. The other lazily smiled at him again and for a second Felix was stunned how good Chan looked smiling like that, even though his face was still a bloodied mess.

For God’s sake.

Felix only now noticed the dimples.

In the midst of his brain slowly melting, he tried to send a smile back but he was sure it came out more like an awkward grimace and it got confirmed when Chan almost burst out laughing and threw a little wink before leaning back again, looking real smug.

Felix was sure he was almost a tomato right now but he managed to push the thought away, trying to refocus on what he had been trying to do.

He let out a little huff and pointed to the tray in front of Chan.

The boy’s smile dropped and got replaced by furrowed brows as he followed where Felix was pointing at. As soon as his eyes landed on the tray, he looked back at Felix and shook his head, pointing to his stomach.

Felix frowned and he could see Chan letting out another sigh before he turned his body to face Felix properly. The other then proceeded to lift the hem on his shirt and Felix was sure he was going to lose it when a well-toned stomach came into view, but that went flying out of the window when he saw multiple gigantic bruises painting Chan’s whole torso.

They ranged from dark purple to a weird yellowish-green and Felix felt his heart drop at the sight. 

Just how far had they gone?

Felix could see it, Chan being held up by chains around his wrists and barely able to keep himself standing as punch after punch landed on his body. It was a grim image and Felix felt like he got a punch in the gut himself and his eyes watered yet again.

It hurt.

A strange noise filled the air around him and it was only after Chan hastily dropped his shirt and practically flew to the glass that Felix noticed it was _him_.  
He was the one that was letting out the most heart-breaking sobs and once he acknowledged it, his body turned too heavy. His shoulders got pushed down by an incredible weight that threatened to crush his bones and he curled up into himself, wrapping his arms around his body as he doubled over.

It hurt _so_ much.

And as he heaved for air and dug his nails into his arms to try to ground him, he was now sure of it.

He had grown attached.

Too quickly.

Too much.

_Way_ too much.


	7. How Tragic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well...  
I didn't plan for this to happen so soon in the story, but it is what it is. Things just turned out this way and even though I would have liked to postpone this as much as possible, it didn't work out.
> 
> Sorry in advance.
> 
> Now playing:  
Max Richter - Never Goodbye

It seemed to take forever for that feeling to disappear. But by the time it did, he felt like he had been run over by a truck which left his body in shambles. The sad smile on Chan’s face helped him feel better to some extent, but he felt himself still shaking as he straightened up and run his fingers through his hair. 

Now that he could somewhat think properly again, he felt incredibly ashamed for reacting like that earlier. He felt weak and vulnerable even when Chan moved closer and leaned his forehead against the glass in a clear attempt to comfort Felix. At least, that was Felix’s take on the gesture and he didn’t hesitate to follow the older.

They stayed like that for a bit before Chan moved back and when Felix looked up, his eyes seemed to be on fire as he pointed to the tray, letting Felix know that he should eat and that it wasn’t up for discussion.

Felix let out a sigh and nodded – not at all feeling like eating – before scooting to the tray and dragging it to him. The sound of metal scraping over concrete send a chill down his spine and he shuddered, picking up the tray instead.

He got back to the glass wall as quick as possible and picked up the little piece of bread, rolling his eyes when he saw Chan grinning at him before taking a bite. It tasted stale and a bit dusty and Felix really didn’t want to try to force it down his throat, but he was overcome with this need to make Chan happy. 

And if that meant he had to eat, he would eat.

But just as he was about to take a second bite, his eye caught something.

There was something stuck in the little piece of bread, a speck of colour that didn’t belong there. Felix slowed down his chewing and frowned as he stared at the little red dot peeking through.

Thinking it was just a speck of _something_, he tried to scratch it away with his nail but instead of it disappearing, it fell out of the bread and right into Felix’s lap.

It was small and red and looked like a pill or something, but the edges weren’t round enough to be one. He peeked at Chan and saw that the boy looked as confused as Felix felt, eyes going from Felix’s to the little red thing and back. Felix put down the bread and picked it up. The thing turned out to be surprisingly light-weighted and now that he had it in his hands, he could feel that it was paper.

How it had gotten stuck in his food, he didn’t understand but that didn’t matter when he saw a little arrow drawn on it, going around the whole thing.

Felix figured it was rolled and he held the paper closer to see how he was going to unfold it. 

It didn’t take long and before he knew it, he was holding a long strip in his hands. There was scribbling on the paper and just when Felix could feel himself getting excited, he came to the conclusion that he couldn’t _read_ it.

The paper was filled with little symbols in different colours and he dropped his arms, shaking his head at Chan before turning the paper around and holding it up to the glass. The other frowned and scooted even closer but soon backed off again and Felix saw him letting out a sigh – followed by his hand flying up to his ribs again as he squeezed his eyes shut.

It was then that he saw Seungmin plastered to the glass as well, eyes sharply focussed on the piece of paper Felix was holding up as he was muttering again.

Maybe…

Maybe Seungmin could figure out what it meant.

Chan seemed to have the same idea as he shuffled backwards so that Seungmin could see better. The boy squinted and then there was the muttering again. Felix had hope that the other boy could figure it out, especially because he knew that Seungmin was witty and smart like that.

After all, the first time he had met him, the boy had managed to override the locks on the door and Felix was sure that the boy had also played a big part in the three getting out of their rooms in the first place.

They stared at Seungmin with anticipation but that hopeful feeling soon dwindled when him face started contorting more and more, indicating that he didn’t get what the symbols were supposed to be.

And just then, Chan turned back to Felix with his eyes blown wide before he reached for his own tray. Felix just watched him as he pulled it towards him and ripped the bread apart, probably to see if there was something stuck in there was well.

And a few agonizing seconds later, the older was holding another little scroll in his hands. His head shot up at Felix and the boy shuffled even closer, anticipating what it was that they would find on the paper.

The older rolled it out – slow if you asked Felix – and another set of symbols came into view. However, they seemed different than the ones Felix had and he let out a groan. They weren’t going to get anywhere if they didn’t get at least a little hint about what the papers meant or what they were supposed to do with it.

It was a while later that Felix found himself laying on his back, humming under his breath as he focussed on the little piece of paper in his hands. He had pretty much tried anything and at this point he was ready to call it just a bunch of random scribbles, but then again, why would it have been safely hidden in his food if it wasn’t something important?

No, there had to be _something_

To be honest, he had never felt dumber in his entire life. It irritated him to no end that he couldn’t seem to understand what the little scribbles we supposed to be telling him, even though it didn’t really surprise him all that much.

He had been locked away here for years now and he never needed to actually use his brain. The only things he did here were those stupid tests – which solely relied on feeling and not so much thinking – and chores every now and then. Not really the ideal environment to develop and maintain a high level of cognitive reasoning. To prove that fact, his head had started to ache in a way it hadn’t for years and years. It was dull but still managed to annoy the hell out of him with the way it seemed to press against the back of his eyes and in his temples. 

Felix would be surprised if he had gone through a massive loss of neural pathways in his brain. He knew that was a thing even though he didn’t fully understand what that meant _exactly_, but he got the gist.

So he was happy that he wasn’t alone in his endeavour to find this out. It would have been so stressful if he was.

He let out a heavy sigh and let his arms drop back to the floor next to him before rolling his head to the side. Chan was in a similar position and Felix almost thought it was funny to see the older so focussed – his brows tightly knit together and lips slightly pouting.

Felix looked past Chan and he saw Seungmin staring at the floor, fingers drawing invisible patterns on the cold concrete and he knew that the guy was desperately trying to figure out what the ‘messages’ meant as well. When he looked at the other boys, they looked as confused and focussed as Seungmin. Shortly after Chan had found the little scroll in his bread as well, they had gotten the attention of the others and with a lot of waving and pointing, they had understood that they needed to check their food as well.

Unfortunately, no other messages popped up.

Hyunjin was clearly trying to think really hard, his lips pursed and brows tightly knitted together as well. When Felix looked right in front of him, it seemed like Jisung had given up already and the boy was back to sleep, cradling his arm gently as he lay on his side.

In the midst of the excitement, Felix had almost forgotten that the boy was seriously injured and he hoped that it wasn’t the reason he looked so pale. But there was nothing he could do, so he turned his head to look at Minho at the other corner in the room.

The older was clearly still upset even if he tried to hide it by an angry glare at the door and instead of being curious about what the by was thinking, Felix realised that he didn’t want to know. He was sure that it wouldn’t be anything good.

Then the door opened and he stilled on instinct when six guards entered the room, still as scary as ever.

He shot a look at Chan and they both managed to stuff the little pieces of paper in their pockets and Felix prayed that it would stay there. He looked at Chan again but the guy wasn’t looking his way and Felix felt the anxiety increase when two of the guards stopped in front of Chan, guns in their hand. Then another two appeared in front of his own class cage and two in front of Jisung, leaving the last pair lingering where Minho was.

It was something like lightning striking when the guards got to Chan, leaving no room for the older to do something when they secured a mask over his mouth before stepping back.

They motioned for him to get up and he did, but not without turning to Felix. 

His eyes spoke millions but Felix didn’t understand what they were trying to say. He was stuck between reassurance and worry but he didn’t have time to dwell on it when he suddenly got pulled up to his feet by his arms, two guards glued to his side.

Felix scanned around as they started dragging him out and he saw that Minho and Jisung were in a similar situation.

Hyunjin and Seungmin looked like they were panicking as they glued themselves to the glass as the four of them got dragged out and Felix really wanted to do the same but Chan shook his head when Felix past him and so, he let himself be treated like some kind of ragdoll.

Felix was too busy to come up with things that were going to happen that he barely noticed that they had come to a stop in front of a big door.

It got opened and Felix stumbled into the room – curtesy by the two guards pushing him forward without even giving him the time to take a proper step – and the first thing he noticed was that there were about twelve guards already in the room, from head to toe clad in heavy protection.

Three in each corner.

Three guards per person.

He didn’t know what was going to happen, but he shivered at the thought that it warranted so much protection on the facility’s side. Plus, none of the boys – except for Chan - were forced to wear anything to prevent them from using their ability.

Not that it would be needed anyways because it was just him, Minho, Jisung and Chan. Well, they apparently needed them because of the older because Felix doubted that the rest were going to be able to do much damage.

Then he saw a guy standing in the middle of the room, eyes covered and unmoving as if he didn’t even acknowledge the fact that there were so many people present. Like he had expected them to come.

Before Felix had enough time to observe the guy, there was another push in his back and he could hear the door falling shut behind him. There was more pushing and pulling and the four of them ended up lined up in front of the boy.

‘’OS-9, permission granted,’’ one of the guards near the door suddenly spoke and the boy moved, bringing his hands up to the fabric over his eyes.

With nimble fingers, the fabric became undone and fell to the floor.

Felix shot a quick glance to the boys next to him to see in they recognized him, but they looked as intrigued and confused as Felix felt.

Then the boy opened his eyes and made direct eye-contact with Felix. The latter felt a chill through his spine and there was a sudden pressure in his head, but for some reason he couldn’t look away. The boy’s eyes just sucked him in, like they were an all-consuming black hole.

He vaguely registered the boy’s brown hair and short stature but it didn’t take away from the intimidating aura. The guy’s muscles peeking through the fabric of his clothing only made his presence even more frightening and Felix wasn’t sure what to think of him.

There was a certain vibe that told Felix that they guy wasn’t all that bothered by the situation, neither did he seem to be uncomfortable with the guards pointing their guns at him, waiting for a wrong move.

He was either incredibly stupid or tired of living overall.

Felix got snapped out of his head when the guy’s eyes seemed to get closer and closer and his body froze.

Those eyes.

Those eyes were glaring right into his soul and Felix knew he should be scared – his accelerating heartbeat told him so – but his mind grew strangely numb, like it paused working for a second.

It was cold and everything around the guy seemed to fade out of his focus, creating a weird image where there was nothing in the room accept the guy. Then Felix’s vision blurred for a split second before everything was razor-sharp again and he found that the guy was no longer looking at him.

Felix zoned out and wondered what was going on. His brain felt oddly fuzzy but not so much that he couldn’t think straight. No, everything was still as clear as before but something was off and he just couldn’t make out what it was.

Before he knew it, the guy nodded at one of the guards and already reached down to pick the piece of fabric off the floor, trying it around his eyes again. Felix turned his head and noticed how the edges of his vision blurred a bit with the movement but it wasn’t something out of the ordinary because it did that all the time when he was really tired or when he had used his ability too much, so he dismissed it and let his eyes wander to the boys next to him.

Chan looked plain frustrated, but that wasn’t all that weird. He wasn’t able to speak and Felix knew that the older wanted to. His eyes screamed a certain despair to understand the situation, to ask who the guy was and why they were in this room.

It was out of nowhere that the door behind them opened again and Felix threw his head around, coming face to face with that same man he had seen in that small room.

He wore a amused grin and Felix felt the urge to wipe it off his face, especially when his eyes lingered a bit longer on Jisung. The boy visibly flinched before looking at Minho who was standing right next to him. The man seemed to follow his gaze and ended up chuckling when Minho let out some sort of growl, heavily muted and barely present, but it was there.

It was the first sound Felix had ever heard the older make and he never would have thought that it would shock him so much, but it did. However, he didn’t feel all that great about it because Minho apparently felt so uncomfortable that he had gotten past his complete muteness.

‘’Good afternoon boys,’’ the man leered as he stepped into the room before walking around them, turning to the guy in the middle, ‘’OS-9 is permitted to leave,’’  
The guy simply nodded and held out his arms when two guards stepped to his side. They took his arms and tugged him forward and to the door and then they were gone, leaving the four still lined up and confused.

Felix got pushed in his back again and would have tripped over his own feet if it weren’t for the guards taking a hold of his arms and neck, directing him to one of the corners were three other guards stood waiting with their guns now aimed at him.

He was pushed into the corner and it was pretty clear that he wasn’t supposed to move away from it and so he tried to keep himself as still as possible.

‘’You are probably wondering why you are here and the answer is really simple,’’ the man said as he turned to look at them one by one, ‘’There are certain rules here, ones you are very aware off, yet choose to ignore,’’

The man halted at Chan and Felix saw him narrowing his eyes and he remembered how the man didn’t seem to like Chan all that much.

‘’So we can’t just let this go without any real consequences,’’

The man snapped his eyes away from Chan and they settled on Felix instead.

‘’Now, OS-3,’’ he continued as smiled at Felix, ‘’I’ve become aware that you didn’t actively take part in this madness. However, I made you sure you were present for this because I wanted to show what happens when you overstep the boundaries,’’

Felix didn’t like the sound of that.

Felix really didn’t like the sound of that.

But the man definitely seemed to like whatever he had planned because he suddenly laughed, ‘’So watch and learn,’’

The man then suddenly stalked over to Jisung, the boy flinching and pushing himself back into the wall as much as he could.

‘’Come here,’’ 

Jisung shrunk into himself and shook his head, clearly not feeling up to listening to the man’s command. 

‘’Was I not clear enough?,’’ the man hissed, taking a step closer to the boy, ‘’Answer me!,’’

From the corner of his eye, Felix saw Chan moving and getting punched in the stomach. The freckled boy inwardly hissed as Chan doubled over ever so slightly before straightening back up and leaning against the wall, clutching his ribs.

When Felix looked back again, the man let out a hiss and grabbed Jisung by his wrist and an ear-piercing screech echoed through the room. Felix’s vision swam red and for a second he was ready to rush over and get the man away from the boy, but he didn’t miss how the guards tightened their grip on the weapons in their hands.

So he just gritted his teeth and took a deep breath to calm himself down as Jisung got dragged to the middle of the room.

They came to a stop but the man didn’t bother to let go. Instead, he pulled the boy a bit closer, still clutching his arm and clearly too close for the boy’s comfort. Felix’s eyes immediately found Minho and the boy was seething. His face had turned an unhealthy shade of red and his jaw was locked.

Then he heard the hard sound of skin meeting skin with a loud impact and he saw Minho taking a step, the veins in his neck now threatening to burst out of his skin. Felix snapped his head back to the man and Jisung and he saw the boy back on the floor, his hand plastered to his cheek as he fearfully stared up at the man towering over him.

‘’Get back up!,’’

Jisung scrambled to his feet and Felix didn’t miss the shaky breath leaving his lips as he hung his head.

‘’Let’s pay Russian Roulette, okay?,’’ the man then asked, already motioning to one of the guards to step closer.

‘’W-what?,’’ Jisung managed to stutter out, lifting his head up ever so slightly to look at the man.

God did the boy look scared.

Felix felt his lungs contract at the sight and he figured that Jisung had seen the man before, if the way he jerked every time the man moved was anything to go by.

‘’Russian Roulette. It’s easy. We take turns pulling the trigger _on each other_ and the unlucky one gets shot,’’

Wait.

Felix had seen it in movies when he was younger and he was pretty sure the cowboys used revolvers, not semi-automatic guns.

The weapon that got handed over to the man was supposed to shoot a bullet every time you pulled the trigger.

‘’I go first,’’ the man chuckled as he checked the weapon in his hand, peeking up at Jisung.

He heard commotion from his left again and now Chan was on the floor, curled in on himself and clutching the back of his head. Another wave of anxiety hit Felix and never in his life had he wanted to just do something as badly as now, but he knew the facts. The moment he would move he would get shot or hit or punched and it wouldn’t be of help to no one.

The man took a couple of steps back and then raised his arm, the gun in his hand now pointing straight at Jisung’s head.

The boy’s eyes grew wider and he took a tiny step back. Felix saw the fear pooling in the boy’s eyes before they looked at Minho. 

‘’Eyes on me OS-5. We’re playing a game remember?,’’

However, Jisung didn’t listen to the man and the latter seemed to notice. Felix could see the man’s knuckles growing white from gripping the gun too hard.  
But then he seemed to relax and dropped his arm. There came another laugh and Felix flinched at the loudness of it.

‘’Get OS-6 over here,’’

The guard next to Minho took a hold of the boy’s arms, hauling him to the two before shoving him to Jisung. The older seemed relieved to be next to Jisung because he immediately pulled the younger in for a hug, his back to the man.

‘’Well, I got a new idea,’’

Minho let go of Jisung and turned around to face the man, pulling Jisung behind him.

‘’Now now, no need to glare at me,’’ the man said as he held up his hands, ‘’You know what. How about I give you twenty seconds while I think of another way to make sure you guys won’t pull something stupid again,’’

Felix was glad to hear that they maybe would get out of this one, but Minho’s face told him that the older was a bit more sceptical about it. To add to that thought, Minho took a small step back before making himself bigger and therefor hiding Jisung completely.

The younger was clutching onto Minho’s back and Felix saw his fingers trembling, giving away how scared he was.

Felix felt himself getting more and more upset.

What did they do to deserve this? Why did it always seem to be Minho and Jisung? What was it that made them constant targets?

It most definitely wasn’t their abilities, not at all. And maybe that was it.

Maybe they though that the boys didn’t have anything to add, that they were useless in their search – whatever they were searching for – and even though that was kinda true, it wasn’t a reason to treat them so differently.

‘’Deal?,’’ the man asked.

Felix saw Minho nod slowly before spinning around to face Jisung. The older cupped the boy’s cheeks and Felix saw the tension seep out of Jisung as he leaned into the touch. Once again it looked like the boys were heaving a conversation without talking but it wasn’t difficult to guess when Minho leaned in.

For some reason it made Felix sad and he turned away, feeling like he would be invading their privacy if he didn’t.

It was sad.

So sad.

His eyes found Chan’s and the guy looked at him with so much anger and _pain_ that he wind got knocked out of Felix. But the adrenaline seeped into his veins when Chan looked away and his eyes grew big. Felix saw the previous anger morph into panic and then the older threw his head down.

Then there was a bang echoing through the room, followed by a loud thud, loud enough for Felix to freeze on the spot. It was as if the sound had sucked away the air and everything else with it, leaving the room with an eerie silence.

It felt like the silence lasted forever but it was cut too short at the same time.

‘’Hyung?,’’ a voice whispered, ‘’Minho hyung?,’’

He whisked around in panic and came face to face with Jisung. The first thing he noticed was the red splattered all over the boy’s face and neck and it didn’t take Felix long to come to the conclusion that it was _blood_.

It was like a punch in the gut and he got hit with another wave of adrenaline as he tried to see if the boy was injured. After a quick scan he came to the conclusion that he wasn’t, but the look in Jisung’s eyes showed so much hurt that he was afraid that he had missed something.

The boy’s eyes were blown wide and filled with unshattered tears and Felix noticed how Jisung was focussed on the floor and when Felix followed his gaze, his knees buckled and his body flashed hot and cold.

But Jisung didn’t blink, didn’t move, didn’t scream and just… stared.

He simply stared at Minho’s limp body on the floor right in front of his feet, seemingly unable to process what he was seeing.

‘’Oh, sorry. My finger slipped,’’ the man suddenly muttered as he lowered his arm, looking way too smug for his words to be convincing.

But the hatred could wait because Jisung was standing there, rapidly blinking. Before Chan or Felix could move and even attempt to get to the boy, the tears spilled over and Felix saw his face contort, the previous disbelief making way for despair and sorrow and then came a heart-breaking scream as the boy fell to his knees.

‘’Hyung!,’’ Jisung screeched out, ‘’T-this isn’t funny! H-hyung!,’’

Felix heart shattered into a million pieces as he looked at Jisung, the boy’s fingers scrambling to get a hold of Minho as he started to sob painfully.

Tears welled up in his eyes and as he let his eyes wander the older’s body and he saw that there was no way Minho was still alive. A pool of blood started to surround Minho’s body quickly and stained the floor read, clinging onto Jisung’s white jeans as the boy slid through the puddle to get closer to Minho.

Felix’s vision blurred but he still caught sight of Jisung’s face turning grey as the boy did a quick scan and saw the blood now staining his hands, arms and legs.

‘’W-what is this?,’’ the boy whimpered as he glared at his fingertips before dropping his arms again and taking a hold of the older’s shirt.

He was glad that Jisung didn’t seem to notice the gaping hole in the older’s head and he wished the boy never would. It looked horrible and Felix could taste the bile in the back of his throat. Then he came to understand that Minho had been shot in the head, right in front of Jisung.

Right in front of Jisung.

They shot Minho in the head, in front of Jisung.

It made him sick to his stomach seeing the blood on Jisung’s face now. It looked so much more horrifying and the first tear left his eyes.

Jisung was now almost sprawled over the older, his body trembling as he softly patted the older’s cheek, ‘’Hyung, you… y-you have t-to get up!,’’ 

But Minho didn’t.

His body was unmoving and Felix saw his head roll back as Jisung desperately tried to heave him up. An attempt that took the boy a couple of times and each time the choked whimpers became louder and louder, adding to the ache in Felix’s chest.

Jisung didn’t even seem to feel the pain in his wrist – or maybe he did but it wasn’t enough to overshadow everything else – and just kept tugging and tugging as the tears streamed down his face.

The man looked quite content, a veiled smile on his face and Felix’s blood started boiling.

This was what Felix had been afraid of all along.

From the first time he had seen the two in that room, Jisung curled up into Minho in his lap, the older’s arms wrapped around his waist in a protective manner. How Minho had glared at him when Felix looked at Jisung. How Minho and Jisung had cried out for each other as the guards had pulled the younger of the pair out of the room. How Minho had done a one-eighty when he woke up in a dark room and no Jisung next to him.

From the time Jisung, Seungmin and Chan had invaded his room, trying to get to Minho because Jisung was scared that something really bad would happen to the older. How Jisung had pleaded for them to hurry up. How he had rushed down the stairs without even looking back because he was that driven to get to Minho as quickly as possible.

It was clear.

They needed to be together. They weren’t supposed to be separated. Never.

It was clear for everyone to see that Jisung was everything to Minho. The older’s eyes it up whenever he was with the younger, Minho came to life when he looked at Jisung.

And Minho was everything to Jisung. The boy would seek comfort with the older. Minho always managed to calm Jisung down and in turn, Jisung would shower to older with love and affection, only to get the favour returned in the form of gentle kisses on his cheeks.

But that was all gone now.

There was no more of that and Felix feared what that would do to Jisung.

‘’How sad,’’ the man suddenly taunted, handing the gun to the guard next to him before walking over to Jisung, patting the boy’s hair once he had reached him.  
Jisung didn’t acknowledge the man’s hand on his head and he continued to cry into Minho’s shoulder, clinging onto the boy like he was going to disappear if he didn’t.

Which was completely useless but Felix could understand. And to be honest, he wished he could do the same. He barely knew Minho but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

It did hurt.

A lot.

Because he had grown attached to each and everyone of them anyways.

‘’He was such a sweet boy. So unfortunate he had to leave this world at such a young age,’’ the man spoke, voice dripping with such fake sympathy that it made Felix nauseous, ‘’I can’t imagine how you must feel, losing your lovely boyfriend so unexpectedly,’’

Jisung let out a painful screech and he hugged Minho tighter, his breathing getting too shallow and ragged.

The man tutted as he shook his head before crouching down next to Jisung. Before Felix knew it, the man had his arms wrapped around the boy, his hand rubbing circles on the boy’s back.

The man’s eyes met Felix’s and the latter was ready to raise hell when the man smirked and gave a little wink before turning his attention back to the shaking boy.

‘’How tragic,’’ the man bellowed dramatically before moving his head, lips hoovering next to Jisung’s ear.

‘’My condolences,’’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Goodbye Minho, my bias-wrecker.  
You will be missed :(
> 
> I made myself sad writing this.


	8. Voices

_’’My condolences’’_

It echoed in Felix’s brain and the words were so out of place that he refused to believe they had been spoken. But they had and it only landed when the man winked at Felix again, a satisfied smile on his face as he let his arms drop from the boy still muttering Minho’s name as he gasped for air.

The man got back to his feet and patted Jisung’s head before stepping back. The boy was too caught up with the body in his embrace too notice, swaying Minho from side to side as he let out a string of distressed whimpers.

And Felix couldn’t stop himself from letting out a choked sob when Jisung’s hand found the back of the older’s head, pulling said hand back with a frown before turning Minho’s head to see what his fingers had touched.

Felix prayed for Jisung not to, but of course it didn’t work and he could pinpoint the moment the boy had laid eyes on the spot the bullet had entered. 

Then the boy suddenly went silent – the painful sounds stopping instantly - and he stopped moving. 

Felix observed how Minho slowly slipped out of the boy’s hold as Jisung gently let him fall back to the floor, head hung low and his hair covering his face.

And then there was a shift in the air, like it decided to go against the law of nature, changing direction without a sign and tauntingly tugging at Felix’s clothes and hair.

A chill ran down Felix's spine and it was as if he was suddenly nailed to the ground, like something prevented him from moving. Gravity seemed to pull him down harder than normally and a weight was crushing on his shoulders. Felix internally panicked at the sensation but he managed to keep himself present as he saw Chan from the corners of his eyes.

The boy in front of him slowly rose to his feet and swerved to the right before correcting himself, looking positively worn-out and ready to collapse.

And he just stood there, his head hung low and his muscles tense. 

The whole room felt like that and Felix was sure he wasn’t imagining the guards around them were slightly scared as well. Their stance somehow gave away how unsure they were of themselves.

However, the man only took a couple of steps back and chuckled, eying Jisung up and down with a mix between curiosity and victory.

Felix didn’t know how it had happened but suddenly he had been ushered to the same corner as Chan. It made him feel a bit better, especially after Chan got a hold of his hand, but it still did too little.

And a stuttering breath left Felix's lips when Jisung lifted his head and he finally saw the boy’s face.

Jisung’s eyes were completely black and unwavering in their gaze as they settled on the ceiling above them, tears dripping out of them in a steady flow. Where Jisung was looking at specifically, Felix didn't know but the whole vibe the boy gave off was intimidating, almost drowning him. 

There was something really wrong with Jisung and Felix didn’t want anything else but get to the boy and get him back to reality, but he had to admit that he understood that Jisung was probably not really here right now.

His eyes were like big black holes, ready to suck in everything and make them disappear into nothingness, including Felix himself if he dared to come near.

Felix’s feeling got validated when Chan got a hold of his arm and pulled him flush to his side, planting his arm around his waist as if Felix was going to get swallowed into the darkness if he didn’t keep the boy close.

On any other given day, Felix would have been moved and maybe a bit embarrassed about the gesture, but now was not the time for that.

He didn’t understand what was going on with Jisung and he was – once again – hit by the urge to get to the boy as quickly as possible and pull him into his arms, hoping to provide some sort of comfort but one glance at Chan told him that he shouldn’t.

No.

Chan looked properly terrified and Felix could actually feel the older’s arm tremble around his waist.

The air suddenly picked up its flow and by now it felt like they were standing on a grassy hill in the middle of nowhere, where the wind was free to roam over endless fields.

‘’I’ll kill you,’’ Jisung suddenly hissed, his dead eyes still focussed on something invisible above him, ‘’I’ll rip you apart,’’

Another shiver ran down Felix’s spine at the words and he noticed how it didn’t really sound like Jisung. There was something off about his voice and the warm undertone was gone, making way for a piercing cold.

Then Jisung finally looked back down and Felix sucked in a sharp breath.

The boy’s eyes were like an endless pit of darkness, sucking in every little shiver of light. Dark. So, so dark and cold.

It didn’t look like Jisung. It wasn’t that boy who smiled so radiantly, who would look at Minho with stars in his eyes, who somehow seemed to be so _alive_ even when being locked up like this.

‘’I’ll kill them all,’’ the boy muttered again, his voice almost distorted in a way that made Felix scared.

Terrified, was more like it.

And then they could hear glass shatter somewhere in the building.

Felix flinched and turned to look at Chan but the guy was still focussed on Jisung, so much so that Felix wondered if Chan had even heard the sound.

When he turned back to look at the boy, he saw Jisung _grinning_ and that’s when he knew that this wasn’t the Jisung they knew anymore.

The man on the left suddenly laughed and Jisung’s head snapped to the sound, a low growl leaving his lips.

And then Felix started to wonder what the man’s intentions had been.

Where they trying to show them what would happen if they didn’t listen, or had they intended to get some sort of reaction from Jisung?

Because from the look on the man’s face, Felix was leaning more towards the latter. It was as if the man was completely _satisfied_ with the lights flickering and the rush of air through the room.

And that made him so much more angry.

Because they had shot Minho to get to Jisung.

They had gone as far as to rip the older from this world, from Jisung.

Monsters.

They were monsters.

The lights started to flicker even more and a low rumbling could be heard from somewhere in the building and for a second Felix was scared that there was an earthquake coming. 

It was tense.

The air was so tense and the smell of blood was getting whisked around and Felix’s heart ached when he glanced at Minho again.

The rumbling grew louder and louder and Felix’s head was pounding. He took another look at Chan and the older turned to look at him, eyes watery and anger radiating from his face.

And then the door suddenly slammed open and then the only thing Felix could see was black feathers.

Dark.

The noise was almost too much, like someone was stabbing his ears with the sharpest knife on earth.

He started to panic and his night-vision kept turning on and off and it only made his head ache even more. 

Felix got tugged backwards and to the floor, Chan suddenly draped over him in a protective manner.

Then the gunshots went off and things only got worse.

He was aware that he was starting to hyperventilate but he couldn’t stop it from happening.

There was too much going on.

It felt like hours but then the noise finally stopped and he could _see_ again.

And what he saw was dozens of ravens lying dead on the floor and Jisung unconscious in the man’s arms.

‘’Well, that concludes group-session number thirty-two,’’ the man laughed and then he was gone, leaving Felix struggling for air as he watched Jisung’s limbs dangling with every step the man took.

Chan got tugged off him by two guards and before Felix could even panic about his only source of comfort getting taken from him, the all-to-familiar needle got pushed into his neck.

And he hated that the last thing he saw was Minho, skin already turning incredibly pale as he lay in a pool of his own blood.

When he opened his eyes, he was back in his own room.

No glass walls, no hard concrete, no Chan on his left or any of the others around him.

Once again he wondered if everything that had happened was just a nightmare, but his body ached in ways it never did on regular days and so he was sure that it was real, but it certainly didn’t feel like it.

Felix managed to turn his head to the left and saw that the sun was starting to set and even though he didn’t feel all that great, it was nice to see the outside world again. He didn’t know how long he had been locked up down there, but it felt like years.

Of course he couldn’t really see the sun set, but the colours bouncing of the walls of the building next to his were enough to make it seem like he was looking at an exquisite painting, one that nature made for him in hopes to bring him at least _some_ comfort.

He let himself watch for a couple of minutes when the harsh reality came crashing in.

Minho was dead.

So much blood.

Jisung crying and going crazy.

Laughing.

And the rest was a bit hazy to Felix. He did remember the door suddenly crashing open but that’s where things turned blurry.

Maybe he was dead as well?

He didn’t know but he wouldn’t be surprised if he was.

Felix let out a pained sigh as he sat himself up, holding unto his head. The painful throbbing was making it difficult for him to take steady breaths but he managed. 

He laid back down but his head only started to hurt even more and then his vision gave out for a second. There wasn’t even enough time to freak out about it because it returned as quickly as it had been gone.

It was then that he noticed that it didn’t seem like his vision was lagging anymore, like some kind of filter had been removed and his head stopped aching.

He felt himself relax and he let gravity keep him down on the mattress, not feeling strong enough to get himself up to his feet. 

It was when his breathing evened out again that he noticed that he was still dressed in the same clothes as before and they felt oddly sticky and uncomfortable. 

When he looked down to inspect his clothes, he saw a bright red stain on the fabric around his stomach and his heart thumped uncomfortably.

His fingers trembled as he lifted his shirt to see where the blood had come from – had he been injured? – but the skin on his torso was still intact, which meant is wasn’t _his_.

The only other person he could remember bleeding was Minho, but he hadn’t even been anywhere near the boy.

But then he remembered Chan.

And Chan had been injured even before the had been dragged into that cursed room.

It dawned on him that it was Chan’s and he wished he was back in that glass cell with Chan right next to him. That way he could see how the guy was going – how any of the others were doing – and even though there was nothing he would be able to do, he wished he could at least be there.

But who knows when he was going to see them next, if there was even going to be a next time.

That thought made him nauseous and he didn’t like it.

He needed to be there for Chan, making sure the guy was okay and looked after.

He needed to be there for Jisung to try and hold the boy together now that Minho couldn’t do that anymore.

And most of all, he needed _them_.

All of them.

It was at that exact moment that Felix remembered the little piece of paper they had found in their bread earlier and he hastily dug his hands in his pockets, praying that it was still there.

And it was, albeit a bit more crinkled than before, but it was there.

However, he was alone again and there was no-one to help him figure out what the message was supposed to be saying, if it was even a message at all.

For all he - _they_ \- knew, it was nothing important or maybe even a practical joke from one of the employees of the facility.

He did peg the people here to take joy in messing with them in any possible way.

The rest of the evening he spend staring at the symbols on the paper, zoning out every now and then because he really didn’t get it and he was so worried about the other boys.

Were they still locked up down there? Where they injured? Was Chan okay? Did they patch him up alright? 

And Jisung.

Where did they take Jisung? How was the boy doing after all of that?

So many questions he probably never would get the answer too.

_‘’He made it quite difficult, didn’t he?,’’_

Felix jolted up and looked at the door to see who was talking to him, but there was no one, freaking him out like he had never done before. Was he _that_ tired that his brain was starting to make thing up?

_’’Be patient, you’ll get a hint soon,’’_

No, he was sure he had heard it.

But no matter how thoroughly he scanned his room, there was really no one there.

He was going crazy.

Was he going crazy?

He was probably going crazy.

But then again, who wouldn’t being stuck in here for years and years.

_’’You’re not crazy,’’_ the voice said again and now Felix noticed it sounded as if it was in his head, _’’Be patient. Your friends and you will be okay soon,’’_

Felix was starting to panic yet again but something inside of him told him that he could _trust_ the voice in his head, that it was telling the truth and was by no means there to attack him in any way.

_’’By the way, Changbin hyung told me to tell all of you that he’s sorry…,’’_

Wait.

Who was Changbin?

And most importantly…

What was he sorry for?


End file.
